Jerusalem Archives - Page 122 of 198

Weekend Roundup

The theme of the month at the ASOR Blog is “Fakes, Looting, and Artifacts Lacking Context” and the first few posts are up:

Buyer Beware: Shopping for Artifacts in the Holy Land, by Morag M. Kersel
The Secondary Context Workshop: A Report

At Christianity Today, Gordon Govier reviews the recent Easter archaeology stories of the Talpiot Tomb and the James Ossuary verdict.

Joe Yudin provides a history of the temple as preparation for Passover.

Ferrell Jenkins remembers the Passion Week of Jesus with posts on the Via Dolorosa and Reclining in the Upper Room.

Lois Tverberg offers a free download of “A Taste of Passover” through the end of the month.

If you didn’t sacrifice an animal at the temple yesterday, even though such is commanded for Passover, it is very difficult to understand the price that must be paid for your redemption. The Sacrifice video ($10) by SourceFlix will help.

Sacrifice of lambs at Samaritan Passover

Tagged Forgery, Jerusalem, Weekend Roundup

Wednesday Roundup

Hundreds of pilgrims celebrated Palm Sunday in Jerusalem.

Wayne Stiles visits the Jerusalem of Hezekiah’s time and writes, “I have a faith rooted in history—not mystery. The words on the pages of Scripture are supported by simple elements we can dig out of the ground. They prove nothing, but they support it all.”

The Israel Museum has joined the Google Art Project and “online users will be able to view high-resolution images of 520 pieces from the museum’s collection.” That future tense should be changed to present, as you can see the images here. Beautiful.

A restaurant in Capernaum has been accused of dumping raw sewage into the Sea of Galilee. “This is one of the most serious cases of coastal environmental damage that the Kinneret has encountered thus far,” said a prosecutor.

Cyprus and Israel are collaborating to form a database for archaeology. There is more in common between the pasts of the two countries than many people know. The article does not explain the reason for why this cooperation is occurring only now: a downturn in the relations between Israel and Turkey.

The Mughrabi Bridge saga continues with Israel’s Supreme Court ruling that planning committees have to consider the women’s prayer area as well as security issues in their decisions. An Islamic petitioner claims that the Western Wall plaza falls under the authority of the Waqf. Jordan’s crown prince made a surprise visit to the Temple Mount today to see the Mughrabi Gate.

Turkey is asking for the return of artifacts from the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. “‘Turkey is not trying to start a fight,’ said Murat Suslu, Turkey’s director general for cultural heritage and museums. ‘We are trying to develop…cooperation.’”

The Israel Antiquities Authority recently recovered the covers of two sarcophagi smuggled out of Egypt.

For one week, the Teaching Company is offering a free video lecture by John R. Hale, “Central Turkey—Ankara, Konya, Cappadocia.”

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Theater of Kourion, Cyprus

Tagged Egypt, Galilee, Holidays, Jerusalem, Mediterranean Islands, Museums, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Haaretz has a lengthy profile of Ronny Reich and his 15-year excavation of the City of David. The article is partly based on Reich’s book and deals with the archaeological highlights and the political controversies.

Walk the Land: A Journey on Foot through Israel is available as a free Kindle ebook for a limited time.

A FoxNews story about the Chinese Christian version of the Noah’s Ark discovery interviews Randall Price and John Morris.

The Oklahoma exhibit with the seals of Jeremiah’s captors is previewed in a four-minute video.

Joe Yudin takes his readers on a tour of the City of David. He writes that one may walk underground to the Western Wall, suggesting that the tunnel collapse from late December has been cleared and the passage re-opened.

An Asclepium has been discovered in central Greece.

Christianbook.com’s Fabulous Friday sale includes a couple of great deals: Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, by Carl Rasmussen, and the audio NKJV Word of Promise New Testament, each for $14.99 for the weekend.

HT: Craig Dunning, BibleX, Jack Sasson

City of David aerial from the east

Tagged Greece, Jerusalem, Museums, Pseudo-Archaeology, Resources

Wednesday Roundup

Shmuel Browns shares some photos from his recent hike of Nahal Darga, which he calls “Israel’s most extreme and challenging” hike.

BAS: “Named by The Sunday Times as one of the world’s top ten walks, the Lycian Way hiking trail weaves along 300 miles of Turkey’s southern coastline through hundreds of archaeological sites.”

Leen Ritmeyer has word of an expansion to the Davidson Center in the excavations south of the Temple Mount.

The audio files are now online for Bryant Wood’s recent lecture series on “Archaeology and the Conquest: New Evidence on an Old Problem.”

Wayne Stiles: “Passover and Easter bring to mind pictures of the Messiah—both for Jews and for Christians. The Mount of Olives echoes these hopes from its slopes.”

The Washington Post reports on a battle in Israel to save the ancient Canaan dog.

Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a left-wing petition against the City of David Archaeological Park.

The article notes that “the City of David site receives around 450,000 visitors a year, up from 2,000 in 2001.”

Craig Evans writes about the Archaeological Evidence for Jesus. The accompanying photos are disappointing.

The Elvis Presley® Holy Land Tour is now taking sign-ups. In addition to stops at the Sea of Galilee and Western Wall, the tour will stop at the “infamous Elvis Inn Restaurant in Abu Ghosh – an Elvis-
themed diner and souvenir shop popular with tourists from around the world.”

HT: Joseph Lauer

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism, Turkey

Weekend Roundup

Joe Yudin’s weekly travel column suggests a way to get a taste of everything in a one-day hike in the Golan.

Looters searching for treasure mentioned in the Copper Scroll uncovered a mikveh near Modiin before they were arrested.

The “Million Dollar shekel” actually sold for 1.1 million at a New York auction. This sets a record for the sale of a Judean coin.

“The Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) will open 22 of its nature reserves and national parks for free to the public for a couple weeks in honor of Nature and Heritage Conservation Week.”

Haaretz profiles a 20-year plan to publish every ancient inscription ever discovered in Israel. The photo that accompanies the story shows one of the most easily accessible inscriptions, at the base of the first lamppost in Jerusalem, just inside Jaffa Gate.

Norma Franklin, co-director of the Jezreel Expedition, is interviewed on the LandMinds radio show (part 1, part 2).

The IAA chairman is unhappy about the destruction of antiquities on the Temple Mount.

A U.S. archaeological team is back excavating in Iraq.

ASOR is making progress in its efforts to digitize its archives. Here is a direct link to hundreds of thumbnails from the collection of Nelson Glueck.

Significant discussion continues about Talpiot Tomb B. If you’ve fallen behind, the best place to catch up is with James McGrath’s recent roundup. The preliminary report has been updated a third time.

The Bible and Interpretation has a single entry point for their dozens of articles published over the years related to the James Ossuary and the Jehoash Inscription.

I doubt that there are many tours of Israel that do as well as Insight for Living in sharing their experiences with the world.

ASOR rounds up the news in the broader world of archaeology.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Tagged Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Mesopotamia, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Swifts Welcomed at Western Wall

From Arutz-7:

The Common Swift, a unique bird that spends most of its life on the wing, returns to Western Wall for a short vacation from Africa. Nature-lovers are planning a welcoming ceremony Monday.
The Friends of the Swifts Association, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and Tel Aviv University are working together to save existing nesting sites of the special bird. Its arrival at the Western Wall also symbolizes the approaching spring, said the sponsors of the welcoming ceremony.
[…]
They said that a special study to map the nests was conducted in 2002 by researcher Ulrich Tigges and by the late Prof. Mendelssohn, during which 88 nests were noted. This study map served as a guideline during the work of strengthening the Western Wall, keeping the nests unblocked.

The full story is here.

Birds have been making their nests near the temple ever since the psalmist wrote, “Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, a place near your altar….Blessed are those who dwell in your house” (Psalm 84:3-4).

Pigeon perched in hollow of the Western Wall

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount