Excavations Archives - Page 84 of 98

Decumanus Discovered in Jerusalem

Archaeologists revealed today that they have discovered portions of the main east-west street in Jerusalem during the Byzantine period. Known in Latin as the Decumanus, this main thoroughfare went from the area of today’s Jaffa Gate to the center of the city. Archaeologists uncovered large sections of the Cardo, Jerusalem’s north-south street, in the 1970s, but this is the first time that the Decumanus has been identified.

The Decumanus is depicted on the Medeba Map, a mosaic depiction of the land of Israel dating to A.D. 580. (See yesterday’s post for a photo.) According to the map, the Decumanus was neither as wide nor as long as the Cardo. The Byzantine-period street was discovered 13 feet (4.5 m) below present ground level and was paved with large flagstones.

The discovery was made during renovation work on the street running through Jaffa Gate (see area photograph here). Because of the high traffic volume, excavations have never been carried out in this area.

For more information, see the press release of the Israel Antiquities Authority (temporary link). Four high-resolution photos are also available(direct link here): (1) a view of the area of the street, taken on Feb 7; (2) a close-up view of the flagstones; (3) a large cistern discovered underneath the street; (4) the Medeba Map, with the Decumanus outlined in red. Haaretz has a brief article, and the other news outlets will have stories posted later in the day.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem

Thursday Roundup

Dr. Zvi Greenhut, Deputy Director of Survey & Excavations, Israel Antiquities Authority is interviewed on Arutz-7 Radio about his excavations of Moza (Emmaus?). A summary of his Iron Age finds is given at the IAA website.

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas has purchased three fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls, with verses from Exodus, Leviticus, and Daniel.

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel lists 93 threats to open spaces in their annual report, with the largest number falling in the north.

Richard Jones of Lee University will give a lecture entitled “Biblical Archaeology on the Karak Plateau, Jordan” on Jan. 23 at 10:30 at the Museum Center at Five Points in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Professor Emeritus Abraham Malamat of the Hebrew University passed away today at the age of 87.

HT: Joe Lauer and the Yehuda Group

Tagged Excavations, Jordan, Lectures, Weekend Roundup

Tiberias Gate and Theater

One of the sites in Israel with the most productive excavations in the last two years is Tiberias.

Founded in AD 19 by Herod Antipas and named after the Roman emperor, the city of Tiberias quickly became an important center on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Its significance continued through the first millennium with the production of the Masoretic Text here.

Unfortunately, most visible remains in the city have been from the medieval period and later. Recent excavations, however, have revealed substantial remains of the south gate and bridge, as well as the Roman theater. The origins of these structures date to the 1st century.

Biblewalks.com has excellent descriptions and photographs of these recent discoveries. If you’ve been to Tiberias but not seen these latest finds, you can do no better than spend a few minutes browsing the pages about Tiberias, the south gate, and the theater.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee

First-Century House Excavated in Nazareth

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced today that for the first time archaeologists have found a building in Nazareth from the time of Jesus. The residential dwelling was revealed in excavations adjacent to the Church of the Anunciation and dates to the Early Roman Period (40 BC – AD 70).

According to the excavation director, Yardenna Alexander:

The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth and thereby sheds light on the way of life at the time of Jesus. The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period. From the few written sources that there are, we know that in the first century CE Nazareth was a small Jewish village, located inside a valley. Until now a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth; however, no settlement remains have been discovered that are attributed to this period.

The full press release is here (temporary link), and it includes a couple of photographs (zip).

The AP reports:

The dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres (1.6 hectares). It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders, said archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations director at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
[. . .]
At the site, Alexandre told reporters that archaeologists also found clay and chalk vessels which were likely used by Galilean Jews of the time. The scientists concluded a Jewish family lived there because of the chalk, which was used by Jews at the time to ensure the purity of the food and water kept inside the vessels.
The shards also date back to the time of Jesus, which includes the late Hellenic, early Roman period that ranges from around 100 B.C. to 100 A.D., Alexandre said.
The absence of any remains of glass vessels or imported products suggested the family who lived in the dwelling were “simple,” but Alexandre said the remains did not indicate whether they were traders or farmers.
[. . .]
Work is now taking place to clear newer ruins built above the dwelling, which will be preserved. The dwelling will become a part of a new international Christian center being constructed close to the site and funded by a French Roman Catholic group, said Marc Hodara of the Chemin Neuf Community overseeing construction.
Alexandre said limited space and population density in Nazareth means it is unlikely that archeologists can carry out any further excavations in the area, leaving this dwelling to tell the story of what Jesus’ boyhood home may have looked like.

Expect a media frenzy with the timing of this story a few days ahead of Christmas. A minor sidenote: this discovery should put to rest the theory of at least person who has claimed that since Nazareth is mentioned in the first century only in the New Testament, the city did not exist at that time. It is true that Nazareth is not mentioned in Josephus and other contemporary sources, but that is only an indication of how insignificant the town was.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee

Omrit Excavations 2009

I was invited this year to attend the Bible and Archaeology Fest in New Orleans. This was the 12th annual series of lectures sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society. While most professors and graduate students attend the annual professional meetings of SBL and ASOR, this series is targeted toward those with a high level of interest but who have less training. Many of the lecturers commented that they enjoy the conference so much because the attendees are so highly motivated. I certainly found that to be true, and I personally enjoyed the conference. The presenters were all first-rate. They were articulate, well prepared, and engaging. All of them illustrated their lectures with visual aids. I can recommend the series to you without hesitation or reservation. I didn’t agree with everything the lecturers said, but my thinking was never unprovoked. Hopefully some of that will come up in a short series I hope to post here.

I’ll start the series with the presentation on the 2009 excavations of Omrit, given by Co-Director, Dan Schowalter. I noted Omrit here recently when the archaeologists made public their theory that the Omrit temple, and not the one at Caesarea Philippi (Banias), should be equated with King Herod’s imperial temple.

In excavations since 1999, archaeologists have identified three successive temples at the site. The first, dubbed the “Early Shrine,” was built not earlier than 50 BC and probably went out of use not later than 20 BC. Schowalter suggested that the builders of Temple Two were unaware of the Early Shrine until they began construction. They thought the Early Shrine was a tomb and so they left unguentaria behind, but the excavators think they were incorrect in their identification.

Temple One is credited to King Herod, and the archaeologists believe this is the temple that Josephus mentions as being near Paneion (Caesarea Philippi; Ant. 15.10.3). Built in 20 BC, this temple was much more impressive in construction than the Early Shrine. For reconstruction diagrams, see this page at Macalester College’s website.

Temple Two was an expansion, built c. AD 80, which included a colonnade and staircase. The columns were about 30 feet (10 m) tall, and niches (for statues?) flanked the monumental staircase.

This temple may have been destroyed in the earthquake of AD 363.

In the future, archaeologists would love to discover the ancient name of the site. A Greek boundary inscription with the name of Emperor Diocletian (late 3rd century) was broken off and the city name was not preserved.

Survey work in January 2011 will benefit from last summer’s grass fire. The site is much larger than the temple area and includes an acropolis which is elevated above the temple site.

The government has proposed plans that would provide parking and an access path to the site.

Currently, it’s a challenge to find by car and impossible to arrive by bus.

Some of the impressive architectural pieces from the temple will be part of a new display in the Biblical and Archaeology Wing of the Israel Museum, slated to open next summer.

For a few photos of the temple, see this previous post.

UPDATE: I’ve been asked about the date and time of the next Bible and Archaeology Fest. If it
follows the pattern of previous years, it will be November 19-21, 2010 in Atlanta.

Tagged Excavations, Galilee, Lectures

Magdala Project Blog

A recent comment on a previous post has alerted me to the existence of the Magdala Project Blog. It appears to be current (the most recent post was 4 days ago), and it is loaded with lots of information and photos. Recent posts include:

Another one that may be of interest to readers are statistics of the Sea of Galilee, with data from the Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection.

You can also see a slide show from the Magdala excavations here.

Tagged Excavations, Galilee