Excavations Archives - Page 86 of 98

Footprints Found Under Lod Mosaic

Conservation work on the beautiful 4th century Lod mosaic has revealed a number of sandal prints.

“We look for drawings and sketches that the artists made in the plaster and marked where each of the tesserae will be placed,” Neguer said. “This is also what happened with the Lod mosaic: beneath a piece on which vine leaves are depicted, we discovered that the mosaic’s builders incised lines that indicate where the tesserae should be set, and afterwards, while cleaning the layer, we found the imprints of feet and sandals: sizes 34, 37, 42 and 44.”
He said that similarities of the footprints of the sandals lie in the fact that sandals today are based on the footwear of the past.
“They’re simple,” Neguer said. “If it’s comfortable, why change it.”
The 1,700 year old mosaic, which is one of the largest in Israel, was discovered in the city of Lod in 1996 and was covered again when funding could not be found for conservation.

The full story and photographs are here (see also Arutz-7). The Israel Antiquities Authority has four high-resolution photos for download (press release here; zip file here). This mosaic was mentioned previously on this blog here. These footprints are not related to another set of “footprints” discovered in April.

Tagged Excavations

Kikar Tzahal (IDF Square), Jerusalem

The photo below shows another very familiar place in Jerusalem, at the northwestern corner of the Old City walls. This site, I believe, may be distinguished as the location most often renovated in the modern city’s history. I’ve long suspected that the municipality, which has its offices on the north side of this square, uses the area as training grounds for its construction crews.

This American Colony photo shows how the area looked sometime between 1932 and 1946. The round building on the right served as Barclay’s Bank on the lower floor and basement, while the rest of the building held offices of the City Hall. Because it was located next to “No Man’s Land” from 1948 to 1967, the building’s facade today bears pockmarks from the hostilities. Mayor Teddy Kollek’s office was in the second floor of this building for many years.

This picture could have been taken many times since, as the area has been torn up time and again to install various traffic features, water fountains, and pedestrian walkways. This photo was taken in December 2006 after the construction of a traffic tunnel. The round building is in the distant center.

This photo was taken in July 2009 by Peter Wong and looks west (the municipal building is off to the right). It shows excavations of the area, including what appears to be a cistern in the top center.

Shortly after Peter took this photo, the area was cemented over.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Excavations, Jerusalem

Kh. Qeiyafa and the Southern Adventist University

Southern Adventist University’s Institute of Archaeology joined the excavation team at Khirbet Qeiyafa this summer. Their recent DigSight newsletter includes photographs and a description of their experiences and future plans. You can read the newsletter online here. I’ll just make a few observations, primarily because there has been almost no other news from the Qeiyafa excavations this year. That may be related to an inability to decipher the ostracon, could suggest there is some great discovery yet to be reported, or more likely is the result of a rather regular season, without any dramatic news like last year. Archaeology is, after all, 99% physical labor, data collection, and laboratory analysis. The best “finds” come out of the synthesis of the data, when a site’s history and culture is accurately understood. In brief, some things I noted in the newsletter:

Dr. Michael G. Hasel, director of SAU’s Institute of Archaeology is associate director of the KQ excavation.
The team is planning to work at KQ until 2012 when they will begin their own excavations under the umbrella of the Elah Valley Regional Project.
The gate that Yosef Garfinkel visually identified last fall was excavated and it is apparently still identified as a gate. (This is significant because it is a second gate at the site.)
The Hellenistic settlement is immediately preceded by Iron IIa floors upon which were “almost complete restorable vessels, including a lamp, chalice, and large storage jars with thumbprint impressions.”
The casemate wall rests on bedrock, “indicating without a doubt that the massive wall system associated with the western gate does in fact date to the early tenth century B.C., despite recent opposing suggestions by some scholars.”
Garfinkel’s lecture at the Institute on November 17 is entitled, “Excavating the Biblical City of Sha’arayim.” He apparently has not changed his identification of the site since last year.
Garfinkel’s ASOR lecture (11/19) is a double session, entitled “Khirbet Qeiyafa: A Fortified City in Judah from the Time of King David.” See a full list of related lectures at Luke Chandler’s blog.

The newsletter has more, including opportunities for the general public and a way to subscribe to the newsletter.

Tagged Excavations, Shephelah

Petition Against City of David Excavations Rejected

From the Jerusalem Post:

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition submitted against the Israel Antiquities Authority by residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, concerning excavations being conducted at the City of David archeological park in the neighborhood’s Wadi Hilweh section.
The petition, which was the second of its kind submitted by residents – and dismissed by the court – within the last week, alleged that the excavations were being done without the proper permits and were encroaching on the residents’ private property. Residents also complained that the archeological projects had damaged their homes.
The IAA, however, claimed that the residents were being “incited by other figures whose considerations are political and improbable,” and maintained that the excavations were of the utmost importance.
One of the excavations is being conducted next to the Givati parking lot, which is located south of the Old City’s southern wall, at the entrance to Silwan. According to the IAA, numerous layers of antiquities have been revealed during the excavation, including a “very impressive” structure that was likely a public building dating back to the late Roman period.
Remains from the early Islamic period have also been uncovered, as well as remains from the Second Temple period. According to the IAA, “all of the remains were scientifically excavated, through meticulous work, while photographing and documenting everything.”
The second excavation, which was the subject of the residents’ most recent petition, exposed a drainage channel structure from the Second Temple period that extends over a distance of many dozens of meters. According to the IAA, “the structure is surprisingly well preserved, and one can walk through it upright, for most of its length. The excavators were aware of the structure’s existence; nevertheless, the segment that was excavated was only recently exposed.”

The full article is here.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem

Large Mikveh Discovered Near Western Wall

A large ritual bathing installation from the 1st century A.D. has been excavated in the Western Wall Tunnels. From Arutz-7:

It is located about 30 meters past the entrance to the Tunnels, in the general direction of the Western Wall. Once it becomes open to the public, the 11 broad steps leading down to the mikveh will be seen approximately 8 meters below floor level.
Josephus, the famous turncoat general and historian of the period, wrote that the administrative and governmental center of Jerusalem was located at the foot of the Temple, and that among the buildings there were the National Council and the Lishkat HaGazit, Chamber of Hewn Stone, where the Sanhedrin – Israel’s Supreme Court – convened. The archaeologists feel that it is possible that the luxurious hall aside the mikveh was originally one of these structures.
Archaeologist Alexander Ohn, the director of the dig, explains: “It is interesting to note that in the middle of the first century, changes were made in the grand structure. It was no longer used for public administrative purposes, and in its western wall a large mikveh was installed – with 11 steps descending into the immersion pool. It appears that Jerusalem was growing at this time, and with it the need to provide a solution for the increasing numbers of people who came en masse to Jerusalem, especially on the pilgrimage festivals (Passover (Pesach), Pentecost (Shavuot), and Tabernacles (Sukkot)). Ritual immersion in a mikveh and precise observance of the laws of purity were an inseparable part of Jewish life at this time; the importance of a mikveh, especially in this location, was great.”

The complete article is here. The Israel Antiquities Authority press release (temporary link) includes two high-resolution photos (zip).

UPDATE: Joe Lauer notes some additional photos in this brief AP article.

UPDATE (9/26): Leen Ritmeyer has written an illustrated post about the discovery, including clarification of some portions of the JPost article.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Herod’s Temple at Omrit

King Herod built four temples throughout his empire, but the location of one is still being discussed.

Recent archaeological work at Omrit near Caesarea Philippi (Banias) has led the excavators to suggest that they have found Herod’s temple to Augustus. Stephen G. Rosenberg reports on the discoveries in the Jerusalem Post.

This white stone building at Omrit stands in the middle of nowhere today, but this was not so in antiquity. Recent excavations have shown that it stood alongside the Roman road from Tyre to Damascus, where it was joined by the route from Scythopolis (Beit-She’an) to Damascus. The temple stood high above the road and was joined to it by an avenue of columns that led to a bridge across the wadi Al-Hazin, which the road followed.
[…]
Herod built three temples in honor of his patron Augustus. One stood at Sebastia (Samaria) and a second one at Caesarea. Where was the third? Some archeologists think it was at Banias itself, but that city was dedicated to the god Pan.
Andrew Overman of Macalester College in the US thinks the temple was at Omrit. Overman has been digging at the site for nearly 10 years and sees in the remains all the unique characteristics and high quality of Herod’s methods of building. Like the other two temples, Omrit was approached by a grand flight of stairs that led to a portico of six columns and onto the cella, or enclosed shrine, which would have housed a statue of Augustus, as the Romans considered him a god. It is perhaps significant that the temple faced west, toward Rome and the emperor, and in front of the temple there was a paved area with an altar that would have been used for libations in his honor.
The high quality of the stonework, laid in headers and stretchers without mortar, and the finely carved capitals all point to the work of Herod the Great. So does the concept itself, of an isolated temple standing impressively on a high podium on a prominent ridge to make it visible and even overpowering from afar.

The whole article is worth reading.

As mentioned here last week, Dan Schowalter will be giving a lecture entitled “Architecture and Power: Excavations of a Roman Temple Site at Omrit in Northern Israel” at the Bible and Archaeology Fest.

HT: Joe Lauer

Omrit temple from the east

Omrit temple from the east

Ashlar masonry construction of Omrit temple

Tagged Excavations, Galilee