Excavations Archives - Page 85 of 98

Minoan-Style Wall Painting Remains Found on Israel’s Coast

From a press release from the University of Haifa:

The remains of a Minoan-style wall painting, characterized by a blue background, the first of its kind to be found in Israel, was discovered in the course of the recent excavation season at Tel Kabri. This fresco joins others of Aegean style that have been uncovered during earlier seasons at the Canaanite palace in Kabri. “It was, without doubt, a conscious decision made by the city’s rulers who wished to associate with Mediterranean culture and not adopt Syrian and Mesopotamian styles of art like other cities in Canaan did. The Canaanites were living in the Levant and wanted to feel European,” explains Dr. Assaf Yasur-Landau of the University of Haifa, who directed the excavations.
The remains of a Canaanite city from the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 B.C.) have been exposed at Tel Kabri, next to Kibbutz Kabri near Nahariya. A palace for the city’s rulers stands in the center of the city, which was the most important of the cities in the Western Galilee during that period. Excavations began at Tel Kabri in 1986, conducted by the late Prof. Aharon Kempinski, and were halted in 1993. Over the past years, excavations have been renewed by teams directed by Dr. Yasur-Landau of the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa and Prof. Eric Cline of The George Washington University. Tel Kabri is unique in that after the city was deserted, no other city was built over its remains. Therefore, this is the only Canaanite city that can be excavated in its entirety. The palace too, which has been measured with geophysical tools at 1 to 1.5 acres, is the only such palace of this period that can be excavated fully. “The city’s preservation enables us to get a complete picture of political and social life in the Canaanite period. We can reveal whether or not it had a central government, whether taxes were levied, what sort of agriculture there was and how politics were conducted at the time,” Dr. Yasur-Landau explains.

The full press release is here, and an Arutz-7 story is here. If you’ve been to Crete, you may be a bit disappointed with the photos.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tell Kabri, Middle Bronze palace, October 2005

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations

New Discoveries Related to Temple Mount

Foundation Stone has a fascinating interview with Zachi Zweig, who co-leads the Temple Mount Sifting Project with Gabriel Barkay. It was Zweig who brought public attention to the Muslim dumping of the Temple Mount material many years ago, and his initiative led Barkay to secure a permit for the project. Barkay was interviewed recently about the project, and now Zweig provides more detail about some of the latest discoveries.

You can listen to the 45-minute interview (here, select part 2), but here are a few of the highlights:

They have been working 6 days a week for about 5 years now, but they have sifted only 20% of the material. They estimate 15 more years of work!
Their interest is in knowledge, in understanding the ancient world. This is sharply contrasted with the Arabs who removed this ancient material from the Temple Mount and dumped it in the Kidron Valley.
There are some tunnels and hollow spaces under the Temple Mount that have not been previously known, including one with an Aramaic inscription.
There is a mikveh on the Temple Mount, found in the 1930s but not accurately identified until recently.
Recently the Franciscans were digging on their property on eastern slope of Temple Mount in the Kidron Valley and they found the dump from the Temple Mount in use during the periods of the First and Second Temples. They found restorable vessels from the First Temple period, maybe as early as the 10th century (time of Solomon). They discovered lots of bones from sacrifices eaten on Temple Mount. They also found cultic figurines, which the Bible says were destroyed by King Josiah and dumped in the Kidron Valley (2 Kings 23:12).
Why does no one else care? Why is there so little interest in Israel for the only archaeological work possible on the Temple Mount?
Politics hurts archaeology and our understanding of the past.
The Temple Mount is a house of prayer for ~~all nations~~ the Muslims only.
A Byzantine mosaic was discovered under the Al Aqsa Mosque during the British Mandate but never publicized. Zweig published an article about it last year.
A massive wall uprooted by the Muslim authorities in 1970 may date to First Temple period.

In all, this is quite interesting, particularly the longest bullet point above.

Debris on the Temple Mount, 2005

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Support Sought for Tel Dor

The Tel Dor team is looking for support and volunteers, and I’m glad to help out by posting a recent letter I received here. Times are tough for archaeology, as noted by Jeffrey Zorn in this column in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. They would appreciate your support.

Dear Madam/Sir,
The exquisite gemstone of Alexander the great that captured your attention is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of one of the largest, long-lasting and high-profile archaeological projects in Israel. If you care about the archaeology of biblical times (Israelites, Phoenicians and Sea People), the Classical periods, and the cultural heritage of Israel and the Mediterranean; and if you are interested in forging a bond between Israel and the international community – please take a moment to look at the attached file. Like almost cultural projects around the globe, we need your help to endure.
We would be grateful if you could pass this message to any other interested parties.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ilan Sharon,
Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University Jerusalem
Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905
Tel. 972-2-2881304
Dr. Ayelet Gilboa
Chair, Dept. of Archaeology,
University of Haifa, Mount Carmel
Haifa 31905, Israel
Tel: 972-4-8240234, 972-4-8240531
Tel Dor website: http://dor.huji.ac.il/
Email: [email protected]
Tel Dor has also a facebook page; you are welcome to visit us.

The cover story this month in BAR is about a beautiful mosaic found in the excavations of Dor.

If your idea of a perfect summer is excavating on the beach in the best climate in the world, you have found what you’re looking for.

Harbor of Dor, looking south

Tagged Excavations, Opportunities

New Blog for Tel Burna Excavation

A promising new blog started last week with the intention of chronicling the excavation of a site from the very beginning. The Tel Burna Excavation Project is headed by Itzhaq Shai and Joe Uziel of Bar Ilan University and we look forward to continued informative postings. So far, they have covered:

Welcome to the New Tel Burna Blog—an image of the site using GIS technology
A Little Bit about the Site—with a map of the area and a photo of visible fortifications
Identifying the Site—is this biblical Libnah?
The Survey Season—includes a survey map
A Nice View of the Tel—it’s more a photo of the area next to the tell than the tell itself.

The Arabic name for the site is Tell Bornat, and it has been identified as Libnah by W. F. Albright and A. F. Rainey.

Tell Bornat, possible Libnah, from west, tb011606860

Tel Burna from the west

Tagged Excavations, Shephelah

Hazor 2009 Report

Amnon Ben-Tor and Sharon Zuckerman have posted a brief summary of the excavation results of this year’s season at Hazor. The focus was on Iron Age material in Area M. Among other things, they report:

One wide wall, built with a mudbrick superstructure on a stone foundation, was uncovered in the final week of this season. This wall, 1 m. wide and 15 m. long, oriented east–west, is the first of its kind in the area. It must have belonged to a large public structure. The two central rows of worked limestone pillars are parallel to this wall, and most probably form the inner partition walls of an administrative structure. This assumption will be further checked in the next season.
The main finds attributed to the Iron Age phases in the area are pottery sherds and some complete and restorable vessels. In addition, several scarabs and seals, three Egyptianised beads made of faience, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic clay figurines, iron and bronze objects and an incised bone lid were found.

Unfortunately the website was created using frames, so you have to click this link and then select “Report of 2009 Season” unless you want to see the page without the header.

A promo video created by SourceFlix heads the page with information about the 2010 season.

Tagged Excavations, Galilee

Double-Decker Plaza at Western Wall Planned

From Arutz-7:

Israel is planning a major archaeological dig under the Western Wall (Kotel) plaza, opposite the Temple Mount, officials announced Thursday. The excavations will create an archaeological park directly underneath the area where worshippers currently stand while praying at the Kotel.
The current prayer area will remain open, supported by pillars, while a new area will be added underneath, at the level at which worshippers at the ancient Temple stood in the past.

Don’t expect the Arab leaders to miss this opportunity.

The dig may be met with harsh reactions from Muslim and Arab leaders in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, many of whom have accused Israel of attempting to damage the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Jerusalem-area Muslims recently rioted for several days after it was rumored that “Jewish settlers” had planned to pray on the Temple Mount.

You can see an artist’s sketch of what the area will look like here. The full article is here.

The present plaza level was lowered in the 1960s, as I noted with this interesting photo comparison.

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem, Temple Mount