Jerusalem Archives - Page 154 of 199

Cuneiform Tablet Discovered in Jerusalem

Some months ago Eilat Mazar made a unique discovery in her excavations south of the Temple Mount. The find was kept under wraps until careful analysis could be conducted and the results published in the Israel Exploration Journal. The discovery is a fragment of a cuneiform tablet that likely dates to the 14th century BC. Duane Smith has a summary of the article. In part, he writes:

The tablet is so fragmentary that, other than a few general observations, no meaningful interpretation is possible. As Horowitz and Oshima say, “. . . it is clear that we know next to nothing about the original contents and circumstances of the letter. The main significance of this new find does not lie in what we can learn by reading the tablet, but in the historical and archaeological context of the tablet itself.”

He notes that there are a total of six lines, but no line has more than five readable signs. But this discovery is quite significant because of what it may tell us about Jerusalem at this time.

The tablet appears to be a copy of an “Amarna Letter,” sent by the king of Jerusalem (Abdi-Kheba?) to the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten living in Amarna (then known as Ahketaten). More than a century ago, nearly 400 of these texts were discovered in Egypt. They were initially thought to be forgeries because they are written in cuneiform and not hieroglyphics. But international correspondence of the day was in Akkadian and scholars soon agreed on their authenticity.

The Amarna Letters only give us one side of the story, because only the correspondence from Egypt’s neighbors is preserved. This new discovery suggests that more writings from this period could be discovered in Jerusalem. Lest you’re tantalized by the possibility that an archive may be a dig away, note that this tablet was discovered in Iron Age fill.

One interesting line of inquiry is a comparison of what we know about Jerusalem in the Late Bronze Age from archaeology versus what we know about Jerusalem at that time from textual sources. Hint: they don’t seem to match. I’ve been waiting for a book entitled The Amarna Letters Unearthed, but I’ve haven’t seen it yet.

Amarna Letter from Labayu of Shechem
Displayed in the British Museum

Tagged Discoveries, Jerusalem

Turkish Hand Grenade Found in Wall near Damascus Gate

An Ottoman weapon was found by conservationists restoring the Old City wall of Jerusalem. Police sappers were called on to destroy the 100-year-old object. From Haaretz:

A 100-year-old Turkish hand grenade was recently discovered during conservation work being conducted near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.
A conservation team from the authority, under the direction of conservator Fuad Abu Taa, on Monday was dismantling fragments of crushed stone that needed to be replaced in the city wall, when they found a fist-size chunk of metal in the wall’s core.

The story continues here (with photo).

Turkish soldiers marching past American Colony towards Damascus Gate, circa 1900

This photo is from the Early 20th-Century History volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-06378).

In May, we posted a then and now photo of Damascus Gate.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Jerusalem

Crusader Fresco from Gethsemane Restored

This large 12th-century fresco discovered ten years ago near the Garden of Gethsemane goes on display next month in the Israel Museum. From the Israel Antiquities Authority:

An enormous impressive wall painting (fresco) that was discovered in excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the Monastery of Miriam in the Gethsemane courtyard in Jerusalem will be displayed for the first time when the renewed Israel Museum opens its doors to the public on July 26, 2010.
[…]
According to Seligman, the subject of this wall painting – only the bottom part of which survived and which originally rose to a height of about nine meters – is apparently a scene of deésis (meaning supplication in Greek). This is a known iconographic formula whereby Mary and John the Baptist beseech Jesus for forgiveness, for the sake of humanity. Only the bottom parts of the figures are visible in the main picture: Jesus sitting in the center, with Mary to his right and John the Baptist to his left. Two other pairs of legs, probably those of angels, can be seen next to Mary and John. In the middle of the painting are colorful floral tendrils on either side of which is a Latin inscription of a saying by Saint Augustine: “Who injures the name of an absent friend, may not at this table as guest attend.” We can conclude from this that the painting adorned the wall of a dining room – the refectorium – in the monastery. The prohibition to gossip is surprising since the monks there were Benedictines who refrained from unnecessary conversation. According to the researchers, the maxim was apparently intended for visitors who arrived at the monastery and were invited to dine there.
According to Nagar, “This is one of the most important paintings that have been preserved from the Crusader period in Israel. The painting is the largest to come out of an archaeological excavation in the country and the treatment the painting underwent in the laboratories of the Israel Antiquities Authority was, from a conservation standpoint, among the most complicated ever done here. This wall painting is special because of its size and quality. It measures 9 meters long and 2.7 m high, and is extremely rare because very few wall paintings have survived from the Crusader churches that were built in Jerusalem during the Crusader period. The excellent quality of the painting was in all likelihood the workmanship of master artists and the vibrant colors reflect the importance of the abbey in the twelfth century, which was under the patronage of the Crusader queen Melisende.”

Five high-resolution images are available here (zip file).

UPDATE (6/30): The Jerusalem Post has the story.

Tagged Jerusalem, Museums

Western Wall Museum Controversy

Haaretz reported on this meeting yesterday, but as of now I haven’t seen an update on the ruling.

Jerusalem’s district planning council was on Sunday set to rule on a controversial museum project that archaeologists claim would destroy valuable ancient structures beneath the Old City.
The new museum is planned for the concourse beside the Western Wall of the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site.
But a group of archaeologists who have petitioned the council says the new building, designed by architect Ada Karmi, would damage an ancient Roman road, flanked by rare and elaborate columns, that runs beneath the planned construction.
They say that if Jewish relics were under threat, the project would never have been allowed.
“It is impossible to exaggerate the cultural damage and the harm to antiquities that would result if the road is encased by the new building’s foundation pillars,” the archaeologists wrote in a petition to the planning council.

Whenever someone says “it is impossible to exaggerate,” it’s a dead give-away that they are exaggerating. Unfortunately the article does not provide the names of any of the archaeologists who signed the petition.

The full story is here.

Excavations on the west side of the Western Wall prayer plaza, site of planned museum

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem, Museums

Re-inauguration of Herod’s Gate

Renovation work has been completed on Herod’s Gate (aka Flowers Gate) and a dedication ceremony is scheduled for June 28. From the Israel Antiquities Authority:

Herod’s Gate and sections of the walls adjacent to it were treated during the course of 2009 as part of the Jerusalem City Walls Conservation and Rehabilitation Project, which is funded by the Prime Minister’s Office, administered by the Jerusalem Development Authority and implemented by the Conservation Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The rehabilitation work on the gate took four months to complete and was conducted in cooperation with the local residents and merchants so as not to disrupt the bustling urban activity that is characteristic of the place.
The conservation and rehabilitation measures to the gate were preceded by very strict preparations that included a meticulous conservation and historical survey and documentation of the gate. During the course of the conservation work there the IAA Conservation Department had to contend with the complicated challenge of working in a teeming urban and commercial environment. The gate’s facades and interior received extensive treatment that included a thorough cleaning, treating the stones and decorations that have been subjected to years of weathering and removing hazards that stemmed from vegetation taking root and vandalism, as well as moisture penetrating into the fabric of the city wall. Among other actions that were taken, all of the electrical and water infrastructures that “adorned” the gate’s facades were removed and properly reinstalled so as not to detract from the appearance of the gate.
The Old City walls were built in the sixteenth century by the sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Within the framework of that project Herod’s Gate was first inaugurated in the year 1539 CE. The gate was constructed originally as a postern gate which only allowed people and unharnessed animals to enter the city. At the end of the nineteenth century an opening was breached in the gate’s northern façade which allowed passage directly into the city. Remains of the sentry post that protected the original entrance can still be seen in the gate’s eastern façade.

The full press release is here (temporary link), along with a link to a zip file with five photographs showing the exterior and interior of the gatehouse, before and after restoration.

Herod’s Gate, 2003. Notice original postern gate on left. The large opening in the northern facade was only made in the late 19th century.

Herod’s Gate, January 2010

Tagged Jerusalem

Festival of Light in Jerusalem

Jerusalem’s Festival of Light ends this week. Arutz-7 reports:

Traveling from all over the country to witness the artistic display, Israelis enjoyed strolling in and around the ancient walled Old City June 10-16, viewing light displays which were, for the most part, free of charge. For a fee, visitors could enjoy the opening ceremony — The Light Concert in Sultan’s Pool — opposite the Old City walls and thousands did so. The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra played light classical music while lights beamed towards the sky in time to it bounced back from the clouds. The players were bathed in myriad colors of shimmering lights. The program began with an orchestrated medley of songs of Jerusalem and included a surprise–simultaneous fireworks and beams of light during the playing of Tschaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. . Flautist Noam Buchman played "From the top of Mount Scopus" as the finale.

See the article for a dozen photos.

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism