Leen Ritmeyer has just released a digital version of “Jerusalem in the time of Christ,” a CD with 85 images (cost with shipping is £18).

Some Muslims are upset that Israel would dare build an elevator in the Jewish Quarter to allow handicapped access to the Western Wall. 

Start making plans now for excavating next year at Tel Burna in the Shephelah.  If you prefer to avoid the heat, you might opt for the spring session.

G. M. Grena is recommending an old film that shows the step-by-step process of traditional pottery-making.

Jesus.org is a new website that provides all kinds of information about the Savior of the world.  I was particularly impressed to see an entire section of the site featuring articles from the best teacher I’ve ever known.  Doug Bookman has 40 articles in the “Harmony of the Gospels – Life of Jesus” section.

Gordon Franz has posted a review of his experience excavating at Hazor this summer.  He considers it “the most pleasant, productive, and interesting season” of his eight years on the team.  Some excerpts:

One important discovery this season made the international press: two fragments of a Middle Bronze legal tablet written in Akkadian and contemporary with, and similar to, the famous Hammurabi’s law code.
Robert Cargill asked the question on his blog: “Where was this in 2006 when I was digging there? lol.”  The answer is quite simple: “Right under your feet where you were sitting during tea break at 7 AM every morning!”  This discovery by the eagle-eyed conservator at Hazor, Orna Cohen, was made on the surface and not in the actual stratified excavation.
[…]
Another important discovery that will probably not make the international press is an Iron Age basalt workshop that was found in Area M.  It was the first time in the archaeology of the Middle East that such a discovery was made….In the weeks that followed, I sifted much of the material from the floor of this workshop, saving the basalt chips, pottery, and organic matter.  I also found an iron chisel.  The excavation’s basalt expert, Jenny, will have plenty of material to study and analyze in order to understand the process of making basalt objects.  Basalt is one of the hardest stones, which makes it difficult to work.  It will be interesting to see whether the lab results show that the iron chisel had been tempered and made into steel.  If so, that would go a long way in explaining how basalt was worked.  Moreover, geological tests can be done to determine the basalt’s source.
[…]
One of the projects carried out by Orna Cohen and the Druze workers this summer was the reconstruction of part of the casemate wall near the Solomonic Gate.  The Druze see themselves as the descendents of the Phoenicians and Hiram’s, king of Tyre, stone masons.  They reconstructed the walls using the same techniques as Solomon’s workers: stone upon stone, and without the use of cement.
[…]
By the end of the 2009 season, we had removed most of the eighth-century walls and strata.  At the beginning of this season, we spent the first week finishing that job.  The next level of occupation was the ninth-century.  I thought it would take a season to excavate the remains from that period.  We blew through it in a couple of weeks.  Area M is outside the Solomonic city so there were no tenth-century domestic dwellings outside the city.  Thus we began to penetrate down to the Late Bronze Age palace.  By the end of the season, we were on top of the palace and some monumental stones were beginning to appear.
It is in Area M that Dr. Sharon Zuckerman has suggested that the administrative palace of Hazor was and the Canaanite archive of the Late Bronze level would be located (2006: 28-37).  When the archive(s) are found at Hazor, it/they will be a major contribution to Biblical studies and go a long way to resolve some of the thorny issues in Biblical Archaeology.

Several blogs have inaccurately reported that the MB tablet was found in the excavations above the palace in Area M, but Franz states that it was found on the surface of the tell west of Area M.
Franz’s full report is here.

Hazor upper city aerial from east, tbs112290011

Hazor upper city from east

A couple of fragments of a cuneiform tablet were found recently at the excavations of Hazor.  Details released thus far are limited, but the tablet is from the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 BC) and has parallels to the Law Code of Hammurabi.  The excavators’ notice of the discovery is online here.  I have heard that the find was made on the surface, and that publication won’t take long.

Roman period tombs have been discovered in Petra with skeletal remains and ancient artifacts.

A small basalt statue dating from about 4000 BC has been found in Jordan near the border of Saudi Arabia.

Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg has written an “Archaeology in Israel Update,” including summaries of the medieval aqueduct in Jerusalem, graves in Ashkelon, MB artifacts near Jokneam, MB tombs in Nazareth, and the 18th anniversary of the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem.

New excavations begin today at Shiloh and the team is looking for volunteers (article in Hebrew).

If you prefer to “experience” excavations without getting dirty, take a look at the live video feed from Gath (during working hours only).

HT: Roi Brit

I’ve started a list of active blogs, and would be grateful to learn of any others that you know of.

Gath – this is the best excavation blog I know of, thanks to the tireless work of the archaeologist, Aren Maeir.  This year they are excavating July 4-30, but that’s less important because Maeir updates the blog year-round.

Ashkelon – this is a primarily an educational blog written by one of the supervisors.  Note that this is a new location (as of 7/13).  The season began June 6 and wraps up on July 16.

Bethsaida – the 24th season ran from May 23 to June 26, and brief summaries and photos are posted.

Tel Burna – they had a very successful first season (June 20 – July 1) and I have hopes there will be periodic updates as they do analysis and prepare for next year’s dig.


Tall el-Hammam – the website provides season summaries, but there appears to be no blog updating readers during the winter excavation seasons (upcoming: December 10, 2010 to January 20, 2011).


Hazor – excavations are on-going now (June 20 – July 30), and the current diggers have a Facebook page where they can upload photos and videos.  The official Tel Hazor Facebook page is rather limited, and I am unaware of any blogging about the excavations.


Hippos (Susita) – the website indicates that the 2010 season will run July 4-31.  Mark Schuler has a blog for the Concordia University excavations of the Northeast Church.  Other members of the team have blogs listed at virtualdig.org.

Tall Jalul – this year’s excavation has concluded, but Owen Chesnut will be adding updates periodically throughout the year.  Though less well known, this site is one of the largest in Jordan.

Magdala – this relatively new dig plans to be in the field for an extended period over the next several years (ahead of construction).  The blog seems to be on break, but you can follow along by Twitter @magdalaisrael.


Khirbet el-Maqatir – the two-week season ended June 6.  The dig doesn’t have its own blog, but the organization sponsoring the dig does.

Dig Megiddo 2010 –  this blog is frequently updated with reports from volunteers about their experiences as well as photos posted on Facebook by Eric Cline.  The season this year runs from June 12 to July 29.


Khirbet Qeiyafa – the Elah Fortress website, with all of its photos and summaries, appears to have been deleted.  The Hebrew U website is infrequently updated.  The excavation season this year is June 20 to July 30.  Blogger Luke Chandler is volunteering and may have some reports in the weeks to come. 


Ramat Rahel – the website provides general details only.  Excavations are slated for August 15-26.


Tel Rehov – this is another Israeli dig with (apparently) nothing more than a website.  The season began on June 15 and ends on July 16.

Temple Mount Sifting Project – this blog provides periodic updates on related issues, but daily
finds are not reported. 
In addition to the blogs and new sources (for major discoveries), a couple of radio programs are available online to keep you up to date with interviews with the archaeologists.  These include the

The Book and the Spade (Gordon Govier) and LandMinds (Barnea Levi Selavan and Dovid Willner).

What should be added to this list?  If you know of something that is regularly updated (blog, Facebook, or twitter), please post a comment or send me an email (address on sidebar).  Thanks!

Beth Shemesh excavations, mat09121

Excavations at Beth Shemesh, 1920s
This photo is from the Southern Palestine volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-09121).

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.

sea_galilee_northwest

Map of northwest shoreline of Sea of Galilee

Haaretz reported on this meeting yesterday, but as of now I haven’t seen an update on the ruling.

Jerusalem’s district planning council was on Sunday set to rule on a controversial museum project that archaeologists claim would destroy valuable ancient structures beneath the Old City.
The new museum is planned for the concourse beside the Western Wall of the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site.
But a group of archaeologists who have petitioned the council says the new building, designed by architect Ada Karmi, would damage an ancient Roman road, flanked by rare and elaborate columns, that runs beneath the planned construction.
They say that if Jewish relics were under threat, the project would never have been allowed.
“It is impossible to exaggerate the cultural damage and the harm to antiquities that would result if the road is encased by the new building’s foundation pillars,” the archaeologists wrote in a petition to the planning council.

Whenever someone says “it is impossible to exaggerate,” it’s a dead give-away that they are exaggerating.  Unfortunately the article does not provide the names of any of the archaeologists who signed the petition.

The full story is here.

Western Wall plaza excavations, tb051908176 Excavations on the west side of the Western Wall prayer plaza, site of planned museum