Excavations Archives - Page 76 of 98

Canaanite Water Tunnel at Gezer

The Baptist Press recently posted an article about the Middle Bronze II water tunnel at Tel Gezer. The excavation team is currently clearing out the tunnel and conducting a detailed study of it. Below is a picture of the entrance to the tunnel taken in 2004 by Todd Bolen. The tunnel begins to the left of where the man is standing and descends underground past the left side of the picture. (Recent pictures from inside the tunnel are posted with The Baptist Press article.)

Here’s how the article describes the tunnel:

The challenge is excavating a large, rock-hewn water tunnel at Tel Gezer that is believed to have been carved out by Canaanites between 1800 and 1500 B.C. — around the time of Abraham. Tons of debris must be removed from the ancient tunnel before the real work can even begin. …

The Gezer system also is unusually large, measuring 12 feet wide by 24 feet tall, Parker noted. It is believed that the ancient people used donkeys to ferry water from the source to the surface. The width allowed two animals, loaded with jugs, to pass side by side. The height of the tunnel perplexes the expedition team, and they hope to find an explanation as they pursue the dig. …

Last summer the team began the arduous tasks of removing tons of rubble from the tunnel. During a three-week dig, they cleared 72 tons of dirt and rocks. Team members dug out the tunnel and put debris in large sacks which were hoisted out with a crane. Due to the 38-degree slope, Parker compared it to working on a steeply pitched roof.

The Middle Bronze II period was a time when the Canaanite city-states grew strong. Large public works were widespread in the region, such as city walls, massive earthen ramparts, and glacis (i.e., defensive slopes below the city walls). So the cooperation and organization needed to dig a water tunnel was relatively common during that period, but (as the article points out) elaborate water systems were not. Sophisticated water systems (such as the ones at Hazor, Megiddo, and Hezekiah’s Tunnel in Jerusalem) are more characteristic of Iron Age II cities.

Side Note: The article mentions that 1800 to 1500 B.C. is “around the time of Abraham.” The date of Abraham’s lifetime is a debated issue related to the “Early Date vs. Late Date” controversy about the Exodus. The article apparently assumes a Late Date position. My personal conviction (and that of Todd Bolen) is that the Early Date position is the correct one, which would place Abraham’s lifetime at approximately 2150 to 2000 B.C. If this is correct, then construction of the Gezer water tunnel would have occurred during the time of Israel’s 430-year sojourn in Egypt.

The Baptist Press article can be found here. Details about the dig this summer can be found here. The excavation’s homepage can be found here.

HT: Joseph I. Lauer

Tagged Excavations, Shephelah

Carchemish Renewed Excavations Draw Near

This isn’t exactly breaking news, but I did not find any other blogs that had written about it, and it seems worthy of mention.

Back in September 2007, Turkish Daily News (now known as The Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review) reported that operations to clear the land mines near the site of Carchemish had commenced. At the time, it was estimated the clean-up would take about one-and-a-half years. Todd mentioned it here.

As a follow-up to this story, it was reported last December in Today’s Zaman that the mines had been cleared and the land was now in the process of being turned over to the city. After bidding for the mine-clearing project, work actually commenced in March 2010. Three hundred days later, it was complete. Mine-sniffing dogs were used in the initial stages, and to avoid damaging antiquities, the mines were removed to another location for detonation (usually, mines are detonated on the spot). Now that the mines have been cleared, archaeologists will begin “serious and long-term” excavations, which it is hoped will attract tourism.

The site of ancient Carchemish is cut by the modern Turkey-Syria border. The citadel and inner town are located within Turkey, but most of the outer town is located in Syria. On the Turkish side is the modern village of Karkamiş and on the Syrian side is the village of Jerablus. As part of Turkey’s attempts to open up trade with its neighbors, plans are underway to open three new border crossings with Syria by 2012, one of which will be located at Karkamiş.

For an account of the earlier excavations conducted by Sir Leonard Woolley, see here.

Carchemish from the northwest, view of citadel and inner town wall.

Carchemish citadel from the northwest.

Tagged Excavations, Syria, Turkey

Byzantine Church Revealed at Khirbet Midras

A large public building that was turned into a church was recently excavated at Khirbet Midras in the Shephelah. The area was populated in the Second Temple period and is well known for a beautiful rolling stone tomb (since destroyed by vandals).

The archaeologists are suggesting that the church commemorated the burial place of the prophet Zechariah. Given that the sources for this appear to date nearly 1,000 years after Zechariah’s death (c. 500 BC), it may be best to regard this as a dubious Byzantine tradition. Some of the overstated wording of the IAA press release suggests that this claim is going to be the basis for reconstruction and promotion of the site. From the press release:

A public building of impressive beauty dating to the Byzantine period, in which there are several construction phases, was exposed in the excavation. In the last two construction phases the building was used as a splendid church. However, based on the results of the excavation and as evidenced by the artifacts, it seems that this church is built inside a large public compound from the Second Temple period and the Bar Kokhba uprising which was used in the first construction phases of the compound.
The church, in its last phases, was built as a basilica, at the front of which is a large flagstone courtyard from which worshippers passed into an entry corridor. Through a shaped opening one enters into the nave where there were eight breathtaking marble columns that bore magnificent capitals which were specially imported from Turkey. At the end of the nave is a raised bema and on either side of the nave are two wide aisles. All of the floors in the building were adorned with spectacular mosaic floors decorated with faunal and floral patterns and geometric designs that are extraordinarily well preserved. Located behind the bema are two rooms, one paved with a marble floor and the other that led to an underground tomb devoid of any finds. Branching out beneath the entire building is a subterranean hiding complex in which there are rooms, water installations, traps and store rooms. This complex belongs to the large building from the Second Temple period which the Byzantine church was built into. Among the artifacts discovered in the hiding complex are coins from the time of the Great Revolt (66-70 CE) and the Bar Kokhba uprising (132-135 CE), stone vessels, lamps and various pottery vessels that are characteristic of the Jewish population from the settlement at that time.
As previously mentioned, researchers who visited the site are of the opinion that this place is the residence and tomb of the prophet Zechariah. Ancient Christian sources identified the burial place of the prophet Zechariah in the village of Zechariah, and noted that his place of burial was discovered in 415 CE. The researchers believe that in light of an analysis of the Christian sources, including the Madaba Map, the church at Horbat Midras is a memorial church meant to mark the tomb of the prophet Zechariah. This subject will be examined and studied in the near future.

The full story and the two photos posted below are available at the IAA website (also at the MFA website).

Byzantine church at Khirbet Midras.
Photos courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Shephelah

Archaeology in Israel Update

The Bible and Interpretation has the latest “Archaeology in Israel Update” by Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg. He reports on six stories from November and December 2010.

Non-Destructive Investigation by X-Ray: X-ray fluorescence spectrometry allows for non-destructive analysis of clay and other materials.

Aelia Capitolina, A Roman Bathing Pool in Jerusalem: Excavations revealed where soldiers of the Tenth Roman Legion free time.

Monastery of St. George in Wadi Qelt: A new access road has been completed.

Funding for Restoration of Historic Sites: Sixteen sites will receive additional government funding, including the Herodium.

Sudden Fierce Storm, Destruction and Recovery: The site with the most damage is Caesarea.

Early Homo Sapiens from Cave in Israel, 400,000 Years Ago? Ancient teeth were discovered near
biblical Aphek.

The full review is here.

Tagged Excavations, Technology

Photos and Video of the Jerusalem Water Channel

The channel from the Western Wall area to the Pool of Siloam is not yet open to the public, but you can get a look inside with photos posted by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Three high-resolution images are currently available at this page (or try this direct link to the zip file).

You can also watch a 3-minute video posted by the Israel Antiquities Authority, with archaeologist Eli Shukrun showing off the results of seven years of his work.

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem

More on the City of David Channel

Archaeologist Eli Shukrun gave the Jerusalem Post a tour of the recently completed excavations of the drainage channel that runs from the area of the Western Wall to the Pool of Siloam. The article includes details that have not been previously reported. From the Jerusalem Post:

The channel was an early drainage system for the city of Jerusalem, which emptied into the Shiloah Pools on the southern end, in today’s Silwan neighborhood. Archeologists believe that the other side of the channel is near Nablus gate [Damascus Gate]. The channel was extensively excavated more than 100 years ago by British explorer Charles Warren in 1867 and archeologists Bliss and Dickey in the 1890s. The southern section of the channel has been open to the public for many years, but this was the first time that it was discovered that it is a continuous channel, about 600 meters long altogether.
[…]
Shukron led the Post on a tour of the channel following the announcement on Tuesday afternoon. The channel is about 1/3 of a meter wide and ranges in height from one to two meters, and is between 15 to 20 meters underground. The channel’s clearing also allowed archeologists to see the lower stones of the Kotel that are currently underground, though Shukron dismissed the Kotel stones as the least exciting part of the project.
“You know the Kotel already; that’s already been overdone,” he said, hurrying past the bottom of the Kotel to point out an underground mikve (ritual bath) and an ancient manhole.
[…]
Shukron also pointed out the remnants of previous explorations, including old wires and writing on the wall in French. He stressed that the channel did not go anywhere near the Temple Mount or the mosques, in contradiction to some claims. The channel follows the Tyropoeon Valley, which is the lowest area in ancient Jerusalem. “That’s why I can’t go up to the Temple Mount, because the Temple Mount is high. There’s no way that a drainage pipe could reach there,” Shukron explained.

The full story includes a photo of the ancient manhole. The excavations are also reported by Arutz-7 and Ynetnews.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem