Galilee Archives - Page 66 of 84

Weekend Roundup

Using satellite images, a researcher has identified potentially 9,000 new sites in northeastern Syria.

“With these computer science techniques, however, we can immediately come up with an enormous map which is methodologically very interesting, but which also shows the staggering amount of human occupation over the last 7,000 or 8,000 years.”

The Jezreel Expedition “just released three-dimensional LiDAR models detailing the site’s architecture and ancient landscape taken from recently collected LiDAR data.”

The spring season at Tel Burna has ended.

A writer for the Detroit Free Press describes one day on a dig at Khirbet Qeiyafa.

A New York Times article describes problems facing archaeologists returning to Iraqi sites.

Travelujah tells the “beautiful and tragic” story of Naharayim and Peace Island.

Joe Yudin visits Chorazin this week.

The Winter 2012 issue of DigSight is now online (pdf). Topics include: The “Jesus Family Tomb”
Revisited, The Oldest Egyptian Reference to Israel?, Recent Sightings, and Upcoming Events.

James Tabor: “Discovery TV has confirmed that the one hour special titled ‘The Resurrection Tomb’
will air on Thursday, April 5th, at 10pm EST.”

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, the previous work by Lois Tverberg and co-author Ann Spangler, is
available for $3.99 for Kindle for a few more days.

HT: ANE-2, Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Chorazin from the west

Tagged Excavations, Galilee, Jezreel Valley, Syria, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

A Summer at Tel Dan

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of more appealing places to excavate than the beach or Tel Dan. Summers can be hot in Israel and Jordan and instead of baking at Tel Rehov or Feinan, you can excavate at Ashkelon, with its cool ocean breezes, or at Tel Dan, a lush garden “which lacks nothing whatsoever” (Judg 18:7).

While the registration window is quickly closing for this season’s dig at Dan, there is still time to get in at the site where the famous Tel Dan Inscription was found and where the high place of Jeroboam still stands.

The official website lists the Goals of the 2012 season:

1. We will continue digging in Area B, into the early Iron Age levels (circa 1200-1000 BCE), to flesh out the architectural plans and to facilitate spatial analysis of houses and neighborhoods, to understand lifestyle, economy, social identity (ethnicity) and political organization. We are especially interested in retrieving carbonized grain from the Strata V and IVA destruction levels and to submit them for C14 dating (we have dates from wood, but the wood might already have been old when the town was destroyed).
2. We will continue digging in the new area in the center of the site, Area L, in the 8th cent. BCE levels destroyed in an earthquake. What does a town look, one minute before disaster strikes? How to people react to such a catastrophe? We will also be emphasizing “household archaeology” here. Is the earthquake mentioned in the book of Amos (Chapter 1)?
3. We will continue working in the area outside the city gate, Area A, in an attempt to date and understand the phantom gate of the Iron Age. Was it constructed in the 10th century BCE, the 9th century or even later? Will we find more pieces of the famous victory inscription of Tel Dan?

You can download an application here.

HT: Alexander Schick

Iron Age gate at Tel Dan

Tagged Excavations, Galilee, Opportunities

Weekend Roundup

The Museum at the Lowest Place on Earth is scheduled to open in April. Displays will share the history of the area, including artifacts from Bab edh-Dhra, Numeira, and the Monastery of Saint Lot.

The museum is located at Deir Ain Abata on the southeastern side of the Dead Sea.

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review has been published. The cover story, not online, will be of interest to many readers here. Amihai Mazar asks “Was King Saul Impaled on the Wall of Beth Shean?” Hershel Shanks writes an editorial on ancient toilet practices.

Amazon is selling the brand-new Rose Guide to the Temple (previously recommended here) for only $20. I’m not sure how long that deal will last.

The life and work of British archaeologist John Garstang is now being celebrated in an exhibition at the Blackburn Museum.

Haaretz reports on some of the history and controversy of the early 20th century photographs of Elia Kahvedjian.

A visit to the synagogue of Baram provides a window to Jewish life in the land of Israel for the last 2,000 years.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Synagogue of Baram

Tagged Dead Sea, Galilee, Museums

Weekend Roundup

Aren Maeir provides links to grants for volunteer excavators.

Maeir also lists nine sites in the Shephelah that will be under excavation as of this summer: Azekah,
Beth Shemesh, Burna, Eton, Gath, Gezer, Qeiyafa, Socoh, and Zayit. That bodes well for the future of this blog.

Robert Mullins will begin a new excavation this summer for Azusa Pacific University at Abel Beth
Maacah. Mullins will also be lecturing on March 19 in Beverly Hills on “The Many Temples of Beth Shean.”

If you’ve ever wondered what that palatial structure atop Mount Gerizim is, Tom Powers has found the answer.

Daniel Wallace says that the first New Testament manuscript from the first century has been discovered.

Wayne Stiles: “Like so many great cities of yesteryear, Tel Samaria remains a testimony of all earthly glory. The only beauty that remains is what God put there to begin with.”

Leen Ritmeyer recalls the discovery of the Burnt House in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem.

Jodi Magness is interviewed on the Book and the Spade radio program (mp3 links: part 1, part 2).

LA Times: “The Israeli government is gradually releasing its National Photo Collection from copyright restrictions.”

The Jerusalem Post recommends the top 5 nature spots in the city.

The ASOR Blog surveys the latest in archaeology from around the world.

HT: G. M. Grena, Daniel Frese, Joseph Lauer

Abel Beth Maacah from the southwest

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee, Jerusalem, Samaria, Shephelah

Update: Restoring Israel’s Historic Sites

In February 2010, Israel’s prime minister announced a $135 million plan to restore 150 historic sites throughout Israel. Now, two years later, Haaretz reports on the progress (or lack thereof) in implementing the measure.

The article is largely the result of an interview with the head of the national heritage department in the Prime Minister’s office. Reuven Pinsky says that much planning has been done and by the end of the six-year timetable, two-thirds of the projects will be completed, including 70 large or medium-sized sites and 100 small ones. A full list of sites is not given, but some projects are mentioned.

Other sites included on the list include the Tel Lachish archaeology site in the Negev (where a visitors’ center is to be built); Metzudat Koah (a fortress, also known as the Nebi Yusha police station); Herodion near Gush Etzion, where King Herod’s tomb is located; Gamla and the ancient synagogue in Umm el-Kanatir in the Golan Heights; Tel Arad; the old train station at Tzemah; Hatzer Kinneret and so on.

Lachish, a site not in the Negev but in the Shephelah of Judah, could certainly benefit from a visitor’s center as well as some restoration work on the ruins. When encountering a group of tour guides in training at the tell last month, I mused that this would probably be the last time they ever visited the
site.

The article discusses some political angles and notes that many of the sites proposed for renovation have not yet been approved.

As to which sites are closest to his heart, he refuses at first to say, but later mentions three: Tel Aviv’s Independence Hall, the Umm al Kanatir Synagogue in the Golan, and the archaeological project underway in the heart of Modi’in Ilit. He says dealing with the latter site is like “reinventing the wheel,” because it involves a combination of archaeological excavations and dealing with a Haredi population.

The full article is here.

Lachish from northwest

Tagged Galilee, Golan, Shephelah, Tourism

Record Rainfall in Galilee in January

Traveling around Galilee last month, it felt like there was just no dodging the rain. It turns out that that was more than a feeling, for the Israel Meteorological Service is reporting that rain fell on 29 out of 31 days in January. From Haaretz:

Measuring stations in Nahariyya and the Galilee registered a new record in the number of rainy days in a row, with rain falling for 27 days in a row, from January 5 to 31. The former record was held by the Druze village of Yarka, where rain fell for 23 days in a row in February and March 1987. According to Dr Amos Porat of the Meteorological Service, there was 250-250 milimeters of rainfall in the north of Israel, 1.5 to 2 times greater than the multi-year average for rainfall in January.

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Sea of Galilee rose 1.5 feet (50 cm) but is still more than 4 inches (11 cm) below the red line. February, however, is a critical month if the seven-year drought is to be ended.

“After the seven drought years we’ve had, the lack of water is so huge that we need much, much, much more to cover even part of that,” Schor said. “We are happy with January, but we can’t be satisfied from it.” It is not possible to determine whether this will also be considered a drought year until the end of the rainy season. However, two-thirds of winter has already elapsed, and 4.31 meters is still missing from the Kinneret’s basin, according to Schor. The average winter Kinneret rise is about 1.6 meters, and thus far, the 2011-2012 winter season has seen only a rise of centimeters. “It’s not a good situation,” Schor said.

The Post also provides rainfall statistics for various sites in the north.

Among areas monitored by the IMS, the highest level of January rain in Israel fell in Rosh Hanikra (316 millimeters, 218% of the area’s average), Eilon (389 millimeters, 194% of average), Mitzpe Harashim (406 millimeters [16 inches], 171% of average), Merom Golan (321 millimeters, 160% of average) and Kfar Giladi (320 millimeters, 156% of average). Jerusalem received 100% of its typical rain, at 124 millimeters, according to the IMS.

Neither of the articles mentions the source of the rain.

Jeremiah 14:22 (NIV) “Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, O Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.”

Storm clouds over the Sea of Galilee in January

Tagged Galilee, Weather