Jerusalem Archives - Page 109 of 195

Recent IAA Excavation Reports

Most of the settlement layers of Tel Afula were destroyed by construction activity in the 1950s, but a recent salvage dig found remains from the Early Bronze I and Roman period.

Archaeologists working in the Ir Gannim neighborhood of Jerusalem excavated a winepress possibly first used in the Iron Age II and again in the Hasmonean period. A large storage pool was built here in the first century AD.

A preliminary report from the 2011 season at Horbat Huqoq describes the project’s goals (synagogue and 2-3 houses) and reports on the initial progress including the excavation of a mikveh. This report does not describe the beautiful mosaic floor depicting Samson that was found in the 2012 season.

Excavations near a site that Charles Wilson incorrectly thought was Capernaum have exposed three strata from the 13th-14th centuries. The dig at Huqoq Beach is 80 meters east of the entrance to the Khirbet el-Minya Umayyad palace.

Excavations on the east side of the Mount of Olives were prompted by the chance discovery of a relatively rare Armenian mosaic from the Byzantine period.

Two adjacent quarries were excavated in Beit Hanina north of Jerusalem. They provided Jerusalem with maleke limestone from the time of Jesus until modern day.

Quarry K in Beit Hanina, looking north. Photo by IAA.

Tagged Excavations, Galilee, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley

Weekend Roundup

Leen Ritmeyer discusses the restoration work on the building that sits over the location of the Antonia Fortress and hopes that they don’t damage the important archaeological remains. (He has an illustration showing where he believes Paul addressed the crowd in Acts 22.)

The Herodium—A Monument to…whose sovereignty? Wayne Stiles provides a surprising twist on this one.

“The greatest church in the world” has been undergoing excavation since 2006 and I had no idea.

Amihai Mazar and Emanuel Tov were among a group of scientists inducted into the Israel Academy of the Sciences and Humanities this week.

The newest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review is the first to carry a photo of the Samson mosaic showing the fox tails on fire. I am disappointed that Samson himself was not preserved. You’ll need a subscription to either the print or digital version to see the photo. For the original press release, see here.

New book: The Photographs of the American Palestine Exploration Society, by Rachel Hallote,

Felicity Cobbing, and Jeffrey B. Spurr. “This volume includes over 150 never previously published photographs of archaeological sites in the Middle East (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Israel) taken in 1875 by photographer Tancrede Dumas for the American Palestine Exploration Society.” 368 pages, $90.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible exhibit at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth closes in one month. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend it (and I challenge you to find the large
Jerusalem photograph printed in mirror image). Groupon has a 2-for-1 deal, but you’ll have to act fast as these sold out before I could mention it last time.

HT: Jack Sasson, Mark Vitalis Hoffman

Renovation of building over the location of the Antonia Fortress. Photo by Alexander Schick.

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Judah, Museums, Photo Resources, Weekend Roundup

Wednesday Roundup

Leen Ritmeyer has photos from Alexander Schick of a wooden version of the formerly Holyland Hotel model of Jerusalem, now on display at Ben Gurion Airport.

Haaretz has a story about a Canaanite banquet hall discovered at Tel Kabri.

The Samaritans are using genetic testing (and abortion) to reduce the chances of birth defects caused by inbreeding.

The first snow of the season has fallen on Mount Hermon.

Vandals have attacked the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem for the second time this year.

You can now purchase the high-resolution artwork from the ESV Study Bible. The maps, illustrations, and charts/diagrams are available in packages for $10, or you can download everything for $25.

Eisenbrauns has a 30-50% off sale on the 4 volumes of the Ashkelon reports.

HT: Jack Sasson

Model of Jerusalem at Ben Gurion Airport.
Photo by Alexander Schick.

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Photo Resources, Resources, Samaria, Weekend Roundup

Hasmonean Village Found in Jerusalem Neighborhood

From the Times of Israel:

Israeli archaeologists digging under a road in Jerusalem have uncovered the remains of an agricultural community that could yield new information on the lives of residents before and after the rise of the Hasmonean dynasty around 2,200 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday.
The excavation in the city’s modern-day Kiryat Hayovel neighborhood has yielded a perfume bottle, wine press, bread oven and the remains of houses and agricultural buildings, according to an IAA statement.
Archaeologists also found a hand-made lead weight with a letter carved on it — seemingly the letter “yod,” the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the equivalent of the English letter “y.”
The community seems to have been active both before and after the Maccabees took Jerusalem and re-dedicated the Temple in 164 BCE, marking the beginning of Hasmonean rule, according to the IAA.
That victory is commemorated this week by the festival of Hanukkah.

The story continues here. Kiryat Hayovel is three miles southwest of the Old City.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Excavations in Kiryat Hayovel. Photo by Israel Antiquities Authority.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem

Recent IAA Excavation Reports

An agricultural complex one mile northeast of the Church of the Nativity of Bethlehem in Khirbet el-Qatt was in use during the Roman period and included cisterns, terrace walls, watchman’s huts, winepresses, olive presses, and a coin from the time of Herod.

Some ancient pits excavated in Ramat Aviv in Tel Aviv had remains of mountain gazelle, dogs, and a donkey.

A quarry of unknown date and sections of plastered wall and floors from a Byzantine monastery were excavated along Nablus Road north of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Two squares were excavated on the western slope of Jonah’s hometown of Gath Hepher, revealing remains from the Early Bronze, Middle Bronze, and Iron II. If the excavators were a little more media-savvy, they could have made their fame and fortune showing off the cooking pot and jar that were certainly used by Jonah’s mother.

Excavations on the edge of Tel Yafo (biblical Joppa) revealed lots of Iron Age pottery (the canteen Jonah dropped on his way to the boat?) as well as finds from the Hellenistic, Early Islamic, Crusader, and later periods.

Vandals excavated a winepress in Horbat Pezaza but they left a second one untouched for those paid by the day rather than the piece. The archaeologists dated the winepresses to the Late Roman and Byzantine period.

Winepress in Horbat Pezaza. Photo by IAA.

Tagged Excavations, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Judah, Shephelah

Weekend Roundup

The blog for Eilat Mazar’s excavations south of the Temple Mount has some new posts, including one reporting the discovery of a 10th-century Egyptian scarab. Mazar asks if the scarab belonged to Solomon’s wife.

The largest Egyptian sarcophagus ever identified belonged to Merneptah and is now being re-assembled.

The Harvard Gazette: “In a high-tech project that would have been impossible even four years ago, technicians are attempting to re-create a 2-foot-long ceramic lion that likely flanked an image of the goddess Ishtar in a temple in long-ago Nuzi.”

NY Times: “The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology . . . is undertaking an ambitious effort to become more accessible to the public.”

Seth Rodriquez continues his biblical geography series with the Coastal Plain – Plain of Dor.

SourceFlix records a funeral procession in front of the tomb of Lazarus and reflects on the meaning of Jesus’ miracle.

Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus is $2.99 on Kindle for a few days (recommended previously here).

Glo is now available for $35 (reg. $90).

Logos has several new Archaeology sets available at a discount. All of them include the standard surveys by Mazar and Stern. The medium size includes the “Cities of Paul” images volume.

HT: Jack Sasson

View of Dor’s harbor from the tell
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Egypt, Jerusalem, Museums, Photo Resources, Resources, Weekend Roundup