Galilee Archives - Page 73 of 84

Weekend Roundup

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

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee, Jordan, Samaria, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Excavations this week have uncovered some potentially dramatic new material at Khirbet Qeiyafa, reports Luke Chandler. We’ll have to wait for word from the authorities before we know what it is.

At Gath, on the other hand, they keep pulling out great stuff and telling everyone about it. On Thursday, they not only worked in the field until 8 pm (work usually ends by 2 pm), but Aren Maeir still took time late that evening to report on the discoveries. Arutz-7 also had a story this week on the excavations at Goliath’s hometown.

The Mystery of Bethsaida – if you are hoping that this op-ed at The Bible and Interpretation will deal with the substance of the objections to the identification of et-Tell as Bethsaida, you’ll be disappointed. Here’s one of the claims: “At Bethsaida in the 1996 season of excavation was uncovered a Roman temple.” Notley has pretty well demolished this idea, but since it’s the only thing they have, they keep repeating it (see The Sacred Bridge, pp. 356-59). Only the grammar gets worse.

The Magdala synagogue stone with the menorah inscription is now on display in the (not quite open) Israel Museum. There’s a photo here. Expect a lot of stories on the newly renovated museum in the next two weeks.

As a follow-up to last week’s notice on the pre-publication special on the two Talmuds for Logos, see this post that explains some of the advantage of this electronic edition.

Tagged Galilee, Resources, Shephelah

Synagogue Discovered at Horvat Kur

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.

Map of northwest shoreline of Sea of Galilee

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee

Israeli Government To Build Rival Jesus Trail

Caspari Media Review reports on this article from Haaretz:

Under the title "There’s a way but no gospel," Tali Cheruti-Sober reported on the difficulties experienced by Maoz Yinon in opening up the "Jesus Trail." Despite enlisting the support of the Government Tourist Office, erecting basic sign posts, publishing a map, and creating a web site, they have been virtually left to run the trail by themselves – with the help of international volunteers. "’We’re talking about a national site in the possession of the State which has no public sponsor to develop and market it,’ says Yinon, ‘and that’s a great pity.’" Typically, however, this is not the end of the story. Rather than investing in the already-existing trail, the Jewish National Fund has plans to implement a rival "Gospel Trail" – "a plan initiated in 2000, buried in the Intifada, and abruptly resurrected. The trail – like its name – is almost identical to the Jesus Trail. … It will be signposted by black basalt stone markers very expensive to prepare. New trails will be blazed – and the cost: three million shekels, with an option of development. The fact that two virtually identical trails will be marketed separately to the same tourist market does not put off the project’s organizer, Amir Moran: ‘We are dealing with principles according to which heritage paths are being built and for which comprehensive and organized work is necessary. … We have no opposition to a private project, but that isn’t the way of the State.’"

There must be a lot of better ways to spend that money. We’ve noted the original “Jesus Trail” before here and here and here.

Tagged Galilee, Tourism

Gold Roman Coin Found Near Sea of Galilee

Excavators at et-Tell (Bethsaida?) have found a gold coin from the 2nd century AD. From the Omaha World-Herald:

The coin, which weighs 7 grams, is 97.6 percent gold, Arav said.
The find was unexpected because Bethsaida primarily was home to humble fishermen, he said. Arav said somebody must have been doing good business a little more than 100 years after the birth of Christ.
The gold coin, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, carries the image of Antoninus Pius, the 15th Roman emperor, who reigned between A.D. 138 and 161.
“Before newspapers, coins fulfilled the job of disseminating information. In our case, Antoninus wanted to announce that the Senate designated him to the position of a consul for the second time. This position was among the highest at Rome.”
The Bethsaida coin is the first Antoninus Pius gold coin excavated in Israel, Arav said, and as far as he knows, it’s the first discovery of this particular kind of coin.

The full story is here.

HT: Paleojudaica

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee

Weekend Roundup

The first excavation season at Tel Burna has concluded. They had a fantastic season, and they would be most grateful for some support. They’ll have aerial photos taken and posted on the blog next week.

Robert Cargill has written an insightful essay on the “Misuse of Archaeology for Evangelistic Purposes,” specifically with reference to the recent “discovery” of Noah’s Ark.

In his recent Asia Minor Report 9, Mark Wilson (Seven Churches Network) notes that the Black Sea Studies series has been made available online for free by the publisher. In particular, he points to volume 7 as providing useful background on the early Christian communities mentioned in 1 Peter 1:1.

Analysis of the Temple Scroll suggests that it was written at Qumran.

The Israeli army is keeping the ruins of the Samaritan temple closed to the public because they say it is too dangerous. The Samaritans are unhappy because of the entrance fees they could be charging.

The July/August issue of Biblical Archaeology Review is available, and the article on the destruction of Pompeii is online for free. I’m looking forward to reading the article on Jezreel.

The Magdala Center is the Catholic plan for a Galilee pilgrimage center, the “Notre Dame of the Galilee.” They plan to complete excavation of the on-site “synagogue” (see previous post) in one year and the rest of the city in three years.

If you’ve ever taken a series of photos with the intention of stitching them together to create a panorama, you might check out the free Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor (ICE).

Tagged Dead Sea, Galilee, Italy, Shephelah, Technology, Turkey, Weekend Roundup