Excavations Archives - Page 77 of 97

Roman Bathhouse Discovered in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced today the discovery of a second-century Roman bathhouse in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. The excavation was being conducted in advance of construction of a ritual bath (miqve). According to archaeologist Ofer Sion:

It seems that the bathhouse was used by these soldiers who were garrisoned there after suppressing the Bar Kokhba uprising in 135 CE, when the pagan city Aelia Capitolina was established. We know that the Tenth Legion’s camp was situated within the limits of what is today the Old City, probably in the region of the Armenian Quarter. This assumption is reinforced by the discovery of the bathhouse in the nearby Jewish Quarter which shows that the multitude of soldiers was spread out and that they were also active outside the camp, in other parts of the Old City.

Roman bathhouse in Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of IAA.

The discovery of a paw print on one of the roof tiles created some excitement:

Another interesting discovery that caused excitement during the excavation is the paw print of a dog that probably belonged to one of the soldiers. The paw print was impressed on the symbol of the legion on one of the roof tiles and it could have happened accidentally or have been intended as a joke.

Dog paw print in Roman tile. Photo courtesy of IAA.

Yuval Baruch, Jerusalem district archaeologist, explains the larger significance:

What we have here is a discovery that is important for the study of Jerusalem. Despite the very extensive archaeological excavations that were carried out in the Jewish Quarter, so far not even one building has been discovered there that belonged to the Roman legion. The absence of such a find led to the conclusion that Aelia Capitolina, the Roman city which was established after the destruction of Jerusalem, was small and limited in area. The new find, together with other discoveries of recent years, shows that the city was considerably larger than what we previously estimated. Information about Aelia Capitolina is extremely valuable and can contribute greatly to research on Jerusalem because it was that city that determined the character and general appearance of ancient Jerusalem and as we know it today. The shape of the city has determined the outline of its walls and the location of the gates to this very day.

The press release and three high-resolution photos (including the two photos above) are available at the Israel Antiquities Authority site (temporary link). The story is also reported by the Jerusalem Post, Arutz-7, and CNN.

UPDATE (11/23): The Jerusalem Post now features a 2.5 minute video of the discovery. Several new photos are posted at CBS News.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem

Harding Excavations at Beth Shemesh

Last night I was talking with a friend about how to choose a good summer excavation for his college students. I suggested three main criteria: (1) a site with historic significance and well-preserved remains; (2) an excavation group that fits the character of his own; (3) a program with evening lectures and weekend trips.

These three factors are all present in this report of Harding University’s successful summer excavations at Beth Shemesh. From the Christian Chronicle:

For more than a decade, Dale Manor, professor of archaeology and Bible at Harding University, has taken history buffs and aspiring archaeologists on summer excavation trips to Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel.
The groups that Manor usually takes on the four-week digs consist mostly of archaeology students and faculty from secular universities.
“I had never been on a project where the majority of the people were even religious,” Manor said.
But that changed this past summer.
All 14 participants in Manor’s most recent trip were members of Churches of Christ.
“Through the years, a number of folks had indicated interest in coming to excavate, and I pressed them into making a decision,” Manor said of his fellow Christians.
Beth-Shemesh, about 12 miles southwest of Jerusalem, is where the Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant to Israel, as recorded in I Samuel 6. It’s also the site of some of Samson’s activities during the time of the Judges.
Manor said excavations at Beth-Shemesh since 1990 have uncovered an underground water reservoir and the largest iron workshop found in the Middle East, both dating around the 10th Century B.C.

The story continues here.

Tagged Excavations, Shephelah

Discoveries at Khirbet al-Mudayna, possible Jahaz

Excavations at Khirbet al-Mudayna (Medeiniyeh) have been slowly and steadily peeling back the history of this large site on the southern side of the Medeba Plateau in Jordan. Some have suggested that the site be identified with Jahaz, the scene of the encounter between the Israelites under Moses and Sihon the Amorite (Num 21:23; Deut 2:32; cf. Judg 11:20; Isa 15:4; Jer 48:34). From Exchange Magazine:

For two decades, Laurier archaeology professor Michèle Daviau has led international teams of scholars and students abroad to uncover the hidden lives of people who existed thousands of years ago.
During her most recent excavation in Jordan, Daviau was astounded by the discovery of a limestone statue and several high-status objects that appear to have been imported from outside the region.
The objects were made from a variety of materials: three small black ware vessels, one with an incised design of triangles, two faience cosmetic containers, two faience bottles, one calcite cosmetic vessel, two alabaster vessels, one fine-grain basalt bowl and a steatite cosmetic mortar were discovered in an ancient house dating back to about 600 BC.
The objects were in the same room as a 40-centimetres statue of a male with red paint preserved on his left leg and his hands. Such finds have no parallels in Jordan although their source may be Egypt or Phoenicia, said Daviau.
“The alabaster and faience objects suggest influence from the two superpowers in the region, Egypt and Assyria, but the dynamics whereby these objects arrived at the site are a mystery,” she said. “They may reflect a period of about 30 or 40 years when Egypt controlled this area.”
The principal sites under excavation by Daviau in the Wadi ath-Thamad area are Khirbat al-Mudayna and the Roman fortress of Zuna. The former is a walled Iron Age town (1,000 to 600 BC) situated on a hill with the Nabataean/early-Roman period settlement (100 BC to 150 AD) at the hill’s base. More than 150 sites that date from the Lower Paleolithic to the Ottoman period have been located in the dig’s 10- by 11-kilometre survey area.

The story continues here. You can read more about the site at BAS’s Find a Dig, learn more about the archaeologist on her university profile page, or check out the Facebook group.

HT: Joe Lauer

Khirbet al-Mudayna on the Wadi ath-Thamad

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jordan

Byzantine Mosaics at Shikmona

Tel Shikmona (Shiqmona) sits on the tip of Mount Carmel next to the Mediterranean Sea. Its location within the modern city of Haifa has made it very accessible to scholars over the last century, beginning with the work of Moshe Dothan in 1951. Seventeen seasons of excavation were conducted by the Haifa Municipal Museum of Ancient Art (1963-79), with strata discovered from the Late Bronze, Iron I-II, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. Recently archaeologists have uncovered beautiful mosaics from a Byzantine church building. The University of Haifa has issued a press release with photos.

Researchers at the Institute of Archaeology from the University of Haifa excavating at Tel Shikmona have exposed magnificent mosaics dating back to the Byzantine Period (sixth century C.E.), which were part of an ecclesiastic structure. The excavations are taking place as part of a project funded by the Hecht Foundation, to expand the Hecht Park in Haifa, Israel, annex it to Tel Shikmona, and transform Shikmona into a public archaeological park.

The story is also reported by the Jerusalem Post.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations

Hazor 2010 Season Report

The archaeologists working at Tel Hazor have posted a brief summary of the 2010 season results. Work was focused on a large structure similar to Yadin’s stable/storehouse complex.

The whole area [M] is divided by seven parallel wide walls, about one meter wide each, running through the area from west to east (Fig. 1). It appears that these walls belong to two large buildings, similar in plan to the Three Halls Structures known from Yadin’s excavations and the renewed excavations in area A-2. The two buildings share a common wall with a 4 meters wide entrance in its center, and thus form one administrative complex of unparalleled size at Hazor and even elsewhere in the period.

The archaeologists conclude that this one functioned as a storehouse. The report mentions the basalt workshop and cuneiform tablet and includes several good photographs of Area M.

Tagged Excavations, Galilee

Excavation and Restoration of the Tomb of the Kings

Tom Powers commented on yesterday’s post, but knowing that many do not read the comments, I’m making a portion of it a post of its own. He is replying to my statement that “Gaining access to the tomb today is more difficult than the average tourist site, but it is well worth it.”

Just a word about access to the “Tombs of the Kings” these days: There is none, as far as I know, for the forseeable future. The main reason is that the site is undergoing complete restoration. In fact, as part of this process folks from the Ecole were called on to excavate on top of the tomb and completely remove all of the accumulated earth. One object was to inspect and then seal the bedrock surfaces there, in order to prevent leakage of water into the tomb chambers. Also of interest, though, was to try to identify any traces of a superstructure — a nefesh — over the tomb, especially since Josephus mentions the “monuments of Helena” (War 5:147) as a landmark in tracing the line of Jerusalem’s Third Wall. Many have supposed that the tomb featured the sort of pyramids or cones that you have atop the “display tombs” in the Kidron Valley. Long story short: nothing conclusive was found. One byproduct, though: several tons of nice topsoil, which wound up in the garden of the Ecole Biblique!

You can see one artist’s reconstruction of the tomb with the original superstructure in James Finegan, The Archeology of the New Testament, page 315.

I hope that the current restoration work signifies an interest in making the tomb accessible to the public.

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem