Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Leo Depuydt still believes that the “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” is “hilarious” and “patently fake.” His article in the Harvard Theological Review is online as is Karen King’s response. Some excerpts are given in The Washington Post. Christianity Today runs an interview with Nicholas Perrin of Wheaton College about what it all means.

A fascinating new exhibition will be opening next month at the British Museum on mummies and what we know about them from the latest technology. The changing graphic on the museum website provides a preview. This AP article has more details.

Luxor Times has photos of antiquities recently stolen from the Luxor Temple.

Barry Kemp has posted a report from the latest season of excavations of the Great Aten Temple in
Amarna.

King Tut began his US tour in Kansas City this week. He will be in San Diego in time for the annual meetings.

Some excellent Zondervan e-resources on sale until tomorrow:

The full list is here. The first two are particular favorites of mine. All 5 volumes of ZEB for only $34 is very good, though this resource may be more difficult to use in electronic format than in print form ($121).

HT: G. M. Grena, Jack Sasson

Tell el-Amarna Small Temple of Aten from west, tb010905318
Small Temple of Aten, Tell el-Amarna
Photo from Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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City of David Visitors’ Center Approved

More than a decade ago, work began for the construction of a new parking lot just south of the Dung Gate in Jerusalem. In the process, archaeological excavations revealed significant finds, including a building once claimed to be the palace of Helene of Adiabene. In recent years, plans were formed to establish a large visitors’ center in the former parking lot. This presumably would replace the current visitors’ center which hovers over ruins believed to be the palace of David. Last night a municipal committee approved plans for construction of the new center. From Haaretz:

The Jerusalem Regional Planning and Building Committee approved the construction of a controversial visitors’ center for the City of David just outside the Old City walls. The committee heard objections to the huge project for eight hours before approving it Thursday evening.
[…]
The proposal was submitted by the Elad association, the right-wing group that administers the City of David National Park, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and has the support of the Jerusalem municipality.
The plan calls for the construction of a museum, visitors’ center and auditorium in the area known as the Givati parking lot, some 20 meters from the Old City wall and 100 meters from the Western Wall. It will also constitute a new gateway to the City of David National Park. The building is to be 7 meters tall and cover 16,600 square meters. Beneath a planned parking lot, finds discovered at the site in recent years are to be preserved and made accessible.
“The Jerusalem Regional [Planning] Committee heard the objections to the Kedem Center plan in Jerusalem and thought that the plan to build the visitors’ center will aid in exposing the important archeological finds to the broader public and serve as a focus for tourism that will help in developing the city of Jerusalem,” read the Interior Ministry’s announcement of the approval.

The full article describes some of the objections and the planning committee’s requirements. The story is also reported by Arutz-7. Several months ago the Jerusalem Post reported the objections of a group of archaeologists, though the basis for their views seems to be primarily political and not archaeological. In reviewing previous stories posted on this blog, I see that a nearly identical story was reported in February 2012; it is not clear what is different this time around. For more images, see the Hebrew version of the Haaretz article.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Silwan - Ministry of Interior - February 13, 2012
Proposed Kedem Center near City of David.
Image by Ministry of Interior
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City of David Excavations Concluded

The Jerusalem Post reports on the conclusion of excavations in the City of David around the Gihon Spring. Under the direction of Ronny Reich and Eli Shukrun, excavations were focused on the water systems of ancient Jerusalem for about 15 years. This brief article and accompanying video focuses on one aspect of the dig—the Canaanite fortress built over the spring.

“The Spring Citadel was built in order to save and protect the water of the city from enemies coming to conquer it, as well as to protect the people going down to the spring to get water and bring it back up to the city,” said Director of Development in the City of David, Oriya Dasberg.
The citadel is believed to have protected the Gihon spring, described in the Book of Kings as the location of King Solomon’s anointing.
The Spring Citadel is the largest Canaanite fortress yet discovered in Israel, and is believed to be the largest known fortress pre-dating the reign of King Herod, according to the IAA.

A two-minute video explains what they found and why it took so long. The best resource on the excavation is Ronny Reich’s Excavating the City of David.

New excavations have begun on the eastern slope of the City of David under Tel Aviv University.

Gihon Spring excavations and visitor center, tb031614817
Gihon Spring excavations within City of David Visitor Center
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Weekend Roundup

This video captures the “streams in the desert” during a recent flash flood in the Nahal Zin.

The spring season of excavations at Tel Burna has concluded.

The Times of Israel suggests “five glorious places from which to look out over Jerusalem.”

Mark Hoffman describes the new Google Maps Gallery and National Geographic Lands of the Bible Maps.

Larry Mykytiuk is on this week’s edition of The Book and the Spade discussing 50 Real People of the Bible, Confirmed by Archaeology (direct links to part 1 and part 2).

Seetheholyland.net now covers 100 sacred sites (Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Baha’i) and other places of interest for Christian pilgrims to the biblical world.

Ferrell Jenkins comments on the attempted donkey sacrifice at Nebi Samwil.

BibleX links to an article on the Living Torah Museum in New York.

Popular Archaeology summarizes the recent excavations at Abel Beth Maacah and includes many photos.

The Rose Guide to the Temple is now $3.99 for the Kindle.

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Recent Excavations of Jericho

Lorenzo Nigro, co-director of the recent excavations of ancient Jericho (Tell es-Sultan), has posted on the ASOR Blog a summary of discoveries since work began in 1997. You’ll want to read it all to learn about the Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages, but I would note the brief paragraph relevant to the Bible.

The Middle Bronze III city was the object of a violent military destruction, which reduced the role of the site and left a heap of ruins in the place of the city, definitely marking Jericho as an emblematic ruin in collective imaginary.

The excavators are following Kathleen Kenyon’s conclusion that the conquest of Jericho was a myth that the Israelites invented because they saw a destroyed city. Bryant Wood has argued persuasively that the city was not destroyed at the end of the Middle Bronze Age (circa 1550 BC) but instead at the end of Late Bronze I (circa 1400 BC), the same time when the Bible describes the Israelite attack.

The article includes a series of photos. The one below was taken during my travels earlier this month.

Jericho southern end from east, tb031514785
Southern end of Jericho with Middle Bronze revetment wall
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Weekend Roundup

Bryant Wood made the case that Khirbet el-Maqatir is biblical Ai in a lecture he gave at the recent symposium held at Houston Baptist University.

Biblical Archaeology Review has posted online the documentation for this month’s cover story,

“Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible.” This is a valuable resource, and more easily accessible than the author’s monograph.

An alabaster statue of a New Kingdom princess has been discovered in excavations near Luxor. The 6-foot statue was once part of a 56-foot-tall statue that guarded the entrance to a temple.

“Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province is ‘a global museum of antiquities,’ dotted with hundreds of unexcavated ancient cities whose archeological treasures could rival those of the great Sumerian capital of Ur, experts say.”

BibleX points to an article on the time and cost of Paul’s missionary journeys.

Israel experienced a very bad dust storm earlier this week, resulting in the closure of a number of the country’s airports.

Mark Hoffman explains how to make a custom Bible map using Accordance as well as other options.

The ASOR Archaeology Weekly Roundup links to stories about Pompeii, the Apostle Philip, and more.

I’m on this week’s edition of The Book and the Spade with Gordon Govier, discussing the upcoming summer excavations in Israel. (Here’s a direct link.)

Luke Chandler invites you to join him on a tour of Israel. At $3,300, it is one of the most affordable trips I know of.

Wayne Stiles flew out to Israel yesterday and will be blogging about his trip daily. He also will be posting new pictures on his Instagram feed. I’m heading over as well, but I don’t expect to have much time to write on this blog while I am away.

HT: Jack Sasson

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About the BiblePlaces Blog

The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.

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