Jerusalem Archives - Page 131 of 195

Weekend Roundup

Corrections and Updates to “Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 B.C.E.”

This article updates the cutoff point for the inscriptions treated in the book mentioned in the title, which was mid-2002, to July 31, 2008. It evaluates 32 proposed identifications (IDs) of biblical persons in ancient Near Eastern inscriptions of 1200-539 B.C.E. All 32 IDs or non-IDs are listed and indexed at the end.

Shmuel Browns explains the significance of Khirbet Qeiyafa and concludes with a report of Israel Finkelstein’s paper on the Large Stone Structure and the Stepped Stone Structure in the City of David. He dates the SSS to both the Iron Age and the Hellenistic period.

An ancient shipyard near Rome is being excavated.

Dan Brown and the Grail That Never Was. Paleobabble posts a link to a scholarly article that is “a succinct, readable dismantling of Brown’s bogus history.”

Antioch on the Orontes was a significant city in the early church. Today known as Hatay, the city’s museum boasts some impressive mosaics and other finds. But most is in storage until a new museum is built.

The new museum is to have the capacity to host 800 people at a time and 10,700 square meters of exhibition space.
Visitors who come to the Hatay museum can see around 906 square meters of mosaics at this point, though around 300 square meters are still in the museum’s warehouse due to space shortages. In fact, the museum’s total holdings include 35,433 pieces, but only 1,425 of these are on display due to serious space problems.
With pieces from the Hittite, Hellenic, Byzantine and Roman eras on display, the Hatay Archeologicy Museum was always known as the second most significant mosaic museum in the world, following Tunisia’s Bardo Museum. That is, until last week, when the Gaziantep Zeugma Mosaic Museum opened, and the Hatay Archeologicy Museum dropped to third place for mosaics.

I’m surprised the Medeba Museum in Jordan is not ranked in the top three.

HT: Jack Sasson

Nude fishermen mosaic in Antioch (Hatay) Archaeological Museum

Tagged Italy, Jerusalem, Museums, Shephelah, Turkey

Rolling Stone Tombs in Jerusalem

I remember hearing some years ago that archaeologists have discovered only four tombs in Jerusalem with round rolling stones. In doing some research, I have learned that there are at least six. Rachel Hachlili’s book on Jewish Funerary Customs, Practices and Rites in the Second Temple Period says this:

A round rolling stone [golel], closing the entrance was found in several rock-cut tombs [in the cemetery of Jericho], dated to the end of the first century BCE and the first century CE. At the door a slot was cut to hold a round stone; the stone was rolled into the slot away from the entrance.
The following tombs in Jerusalem were sealed by means of rolling stones: the Tomb of Helene [the Tomb of the Kings], Herod’s family tomb, the Nicophoria tomb (east of Herod’s family tomb), a tomb on Mt. Scopus, a tomb in the Kidron Valley, and the Hinnom Valley tomb. Similar rolling stones were discovered at a tomb at Horvat Midras and at the cemetery of Hesban (page 64; quotation modified by the addition of a paragraph break and elimination of parenthetical material).

Rolling stone tombs have also been identified near Kiriath Jearim (Abu Gosh), Michmash (Mukmas), and Megiddo.

This looks like a great book, but when it’s published by Brill, you have to be satisfied with reading it in the library.

View from inside “Herod’s family tomb” with rolling stone (photo source)

Tagged Jerusalem, Tomb of Jesus

Wednesday Roundup

Excavations at the Central Bus Station of Beersheba are turning up remains from the Byzantine city.

The southern steps leading to the Temple Mount may have been used by worshippers singing the 15 Psalms of Ascent, writes Wayne Stiles. Not so, argues Leen Ritmeyer, former architect of the excavations. “There are, however, more than 15 steps, in fact, there are 27 at the eastern end and 31 at the southern end.” I don’t think that is correct, and I do know that if you read Psalm 120 at the bottom of the staircase and advance by two steps (to the broader steps) for the next psalm, you’ll be reading Psalm 134 at the top of the staircase. Perhaps that’s just coincidence. Of course, the psalms could be sung in many places as the pilgrim came up to Jerusalem and the temple to worship.

Southern steps leading to Double Gate of Temple Mount

Shmuel Browns reports that the public can now walk from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount via the (now underground) first-century street and drainage channel.

If you’re tired of going to the Dead Sea and seeing scantily-clad men, there is now hope. A beach was dedicated on Monday for separate bathing. If they’d only open a third section for the men in Speedos, we would all be happy.

A one-minute video at the Jerusalem Post shows the highlights of the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.

An automated ticket-selling machine is now in operation at the Giza Pyramids.
Zahi Hawass’ successor has resigned.

A Roman villa and a Byzantine mansion are being excavated in Antioch of Pisidia.

If you’ve ever wondered what the Israel Antiquities Authority looks like, Leon Mauldin has a picture of her. 🙂

Tagged Dead Sea, Egypt, Excavations, Jerusalem, Negev, Turkey

Weekend Roundup

Michael S. Heiser, at the Paleobabble blog, shares an article on limestone quarrying in Spain that may shed light on how similar activity was carried out in Israel. From the abstract:

It appears that one of the quarrying methods used was based on the chemical dissociation by fire of standing stone blocks at their attachment points,a technique hitherto unknown or unreported in the literature.

Israel has its first crocodiles in the wild since the last one was shot in 1912. Fortunately the 50 escapees from the crocodile farm in the Jordan Rift have now been captured. Bonus question: where is the Crocodile River located in Israel?

Paul’s first preaching stop in what is today Turkey was at Perga (Acts 13:13). Archaeologists there are now celebrating 65 years of excavation.

An archaeological park has opened at Claros (Klaros), not far from Smyrna (Izmir).

The Jordan Times is reporting an uptick in the number of visitors to the “Bethany Beyond the Jordan” baptismal site.

Archaeological sites in Syria are apparently not faring well in the current bloodletting. The danger to Mari is noted in a recent story.

The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Full History, by Weston W. Fields, is reviewed by Jaqueline Du Toit. She writes,

“In conclusion, volume 1 of The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Full History is an inestimable contribution to scrolls historiography. It will appeal to scholars and students of biblical scholarship, but also to academia in general and a popular audience. Despite its price, which curtails its mass appeal, it is highly recommended. And, based on the riveting narrative still unfolding, volume 2 is awaited with great anticipation.”

Joe Yudin takes readers on a tour of part of the Old City of Jerusalem, focusing on remains of the Tenth Roman Legion. He gives a good tour but he makes a significant mistake in dating the Cardo to the Roman period. While the northern portion (beginning at Damascus Gate) was constructed by Hadrian, the southern portion was only built in the time of Justinian in the Byzantine period.

(Excavator Nahman Avigad was surprised to make this discovery in his excavations; he discusses it at length on pages 225-27 of the excellent Discovering Jerusalem. I was about to write this is a very difficult work to find, for indeed it was for many years, but now Amazon has used copies starting at $4.63. I’ve bought several over the years for $60.)

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a camera that lets you focus after you’ve taken the shot?

Answer to the crocodile question: the Nahal Taninim (Crocodile River) runs on the northern end of the Sharon Plain, just below Mount Carmel.

HT: Explorator, Joseph Lauer, G. M. Grena

Nahal Taninim and Sharon Plain from Mount Carmel

Tagged Jerusalem, Jordan, Resources, Syria, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Wednesday Roundup

A 600-lb metal anchor from the Byzantine period has been discovered off the coast south of Tel Aviv. The find led investigators to two others in the area. Photos are available from the IAA in a zip file. The Sound the Shofar exhibition opened last week in Jerusalem with more than 140 of the horns on display at the Bible Lands Museum. The story includes a two-minute video. The Jerusalem Post has more information about Google Street View in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. Wayne Stiles takes readers on a visit to Shiloh, the longtime home of the tabernacle. The Archaeology of Libya is discussed in this week’s radio program at the Book and the Spade. (Here’s the direct link to the mp3 file). ATS Pro Terra Sancta has plans to renovate “the Holy Place of Sebastia.” I certainly support improving the conditions at the ancient city of Samaria, though it strikes me as odd to consider as holy the place where Ahab built a temple for Baal worship and Herod built another for the worship of the Roman emperor. An inscription in Aramaic and Greek on a stone lintel has been discovered in the area of ancient Sepphoris. The report is in Hebrew and includes a photograph. A Roman-era style bathhouse was constructed in the middle of a Early Islamic period fortress, say archaeologists excavating at Yavneh-Yam on Israel’s coast. HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson Yavneh-Yam

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Jerusalem, Museums, Samaria, Technology, Weekend Roundup

Google Street View To Photograph Jerusalem Today

If you are around and about Jerusalem and want to be immortalized in Google Street View, you might spend more time walking on the sidewalk in the coming days. From Janglo:

If you spend your days in Jerusalem, you might want to try spending as much of them outdoors as possible. That is, if you want to have a chance at ending up in Google Street View maps of Jerusalem. Google recently received permission to start imaging cities in Israel and including them in the street view maps. This afternoon they are firing their opening shots, having decided to begin their imaging in Jerusalem. They will be holding a ceremony in Jerusalem with Mayor Nir Barkat to kick off the process.. So, if you hang out in the great outdoors of Jerusalem enough in the immediately near future, you might just end up as a pedestrian in Google Street View maps.

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism