“Siloam Street,” now dubbed “Pilgrims Way,” leading from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount, was inaugurated recently.
Excavations begin this summer at Kiriath Jearim and applications for volunteers are being accepted.
Carl Rasmussen recently took the “Behind the Scenes of the Western Wall” in Jerusalem tour and shares some photos.
The Roman milestones on display along Highway 38 (the “Diagonal Route” in the Shephelah) have unfortunately been moved to KKL-JNF’s Givat Yeshayahu offices.
Wayne Stiles has written a great post on the many interesting sites in the Golan Heights.
The Atlanta Jewish Times has a story about the Biblical History Center in LaGrange, Georgia, and a second story about its founder, James Fleming.
“Ancient Jerusalem in VR”is now available on Google Play ($1.99)and the Apple store ($2.99). You can find some screenshots and videos here. Note: the support website is down at this writing.
A stone bowl inscribed with the name “Hyrcanus” was discovered in the City of David. Since the name was common in the Hasmonean period, it is not clear if it belonged to one of the two rulers with this name. High-res images are available here.
A bronze coin with the image of Antiochus Epiphanes was discovered during maintenance work in the Citadel of David Museum in Jerusalem.
Archaeologists have discovered a large “lost city” about 150 miles north of Athens.
“The Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL Lab) at the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago would like to announce that a substantial subset of its digital holdings of maps and geospatial data are now available for online public search and download.”
The Temple Mount Sifting Project is asking readers to Name That Find!
The IAA has completed a detailed survey of the village of Lifta ahead of its planned replacement by a new neighborhood.
Ferrell Jenkins recounts his 2002 visit to Aleppo and its museum.
New research suggests some ancient Egyptians believed a deceased woman had to briefly become male in the afterlife in order to be reborn. Reader Ted Weis notes that this theory corresponds with saying #114 in the Gospel of Thomas.
Israel’s supreme court is hearing a petition to identify the Western Wall Tunnels not only as a holy site for Jews but also for Muslims and Christians.
A staff member explain why the Temple Mount Sifting Project is so important and you should consider supporting it.
HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Charles Savelle, Paleojudaica
New tests on the (probably fake) lead codices from Jordan suggest that the lead is ancient.
The Jewish Virtual Library posts a list of significant archaeological discoveries in Israel from 2004 to present. The list seems to be more complete for the last two years than for earlier ones.
“A rare cache of gold and silver items dated to 3,600 years ago has been found at Tel Gezer, including figurines of the Canaanite counterparts of the Akkadian deities Ishtar, goddess of fertility, sex, love and war; and Sin, god of the moon.”
An arsonist apparently set the fire that damaged Absalom’s Pillar and the Cave of Jehoshaphat in Jerusalem’s Kidron Valley. Ynetnews has a brief video.
Nir Hasson reports on the recent study that dates the Gihon Spring fortifications to the 9th century instead of the Middle Bronze Age.
A group of swimmers swam across the Dead Sea to draw attention to the lake’s declining condition.
A unique Chalcolithic wall painting with an 8-pointed star is on display in Jerusalem for the first time since it was discovered at Teleilat Ghassul in the 1930s.
The Israel Antiquities Authority has issued a press release with an accompanying video (below) describing a rare papyrus dating to the time of Judah’s monarchy and mentioning the name of Jerusalem. The two-line document measures 4 inches long and 1 inch tall and describes jars of wine shipped to Jerusalem. It was written by a high-ranking female official in the time of Kings Manasseh or Josiah. The papyrus was discovered by antiquities thieves working in a cave in the Judean wilderness.
“Two lines of ancient Hebrew script were preserved on the document that is made of papyrus (paper produced from the pith of the papyrus plant [Cyperus papyrus]). A paleographic examination of the letters and a C14 analysis determined that the artifact should be dated to the seventh century BCE – to the end of the First Temple period. Most of the letters are clearly legible, and the proposed reading of the text appears as follows:
[מא]מת. המלך. מנערתה. נבלים. יין. ירשלמה. [me-a]mat. ha-melekh. me-Na?artah. nevelim. yi’in. Yerushalima. From the king’s maidservant, from Na?arat, jars of wine, to Jerusalem
“This is a rare and original shipping document from the time of the First Temple, indicating the payment of taxes or transfer of goods to storehouses in Jerusalem, the capital city of the kingdom at this time. The document specifies the status of the sender of the shipment (the king’s maidservant), the name of the settlement from which the shipment was dispatched (Na’arat), the contents of the vessels (wine), their number or amount (jars) and their destination (Jerusalem). Na’artah, which is mentioned in the text, is the same Na’arat that is referred to in the description of the border between Ephraim and Benjamin in Joshua 16:7: “And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Na’arat, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan”.
“According to Dr. Eitan Klein, deputy director of the IAA’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery, “The document represents extremely rare evidence of the existence of an organized administration in the Kingdom of Judah. It underscores the centrality of Jerusalem as the economic capital of the kingdom in the second half of the seventh century BCE. According to the Bible, the kings Menashe [Manasseh], Amon, or Josiah ruled in Jerusalem at this time; however, it is not possible to know for certain which of the kings of Jerusalem was the recipient of the shipment of wine”.
“Israel Prize laureate and biblical scholar Prof. (Emeritus) Shmuel Ahituv attests to the scientific importance of the document, ‘It’s not just that this papyrus is the earliest extra-biblical source to mention Jerusalem in Hebrew writing; it is the fact that to date no other documents written on papyrus dating to the First Temple period have been discovered in Israel, except one from Wadi Murabbaat. Also outstanding in the document is the unusual status of a woman in the administration of the Kingdom of Judah in the seventh century BCE.’”
The full press release includes more quotes from senior officials.
One assumes that the cave where this papyrus was discovered was thoroughly searched, but no additional fragments were found. Even so, it surely increases hope that more such ancient documents are preserved. Hopefully the IAA will get ahead of the thieves by conducting more excavations. With a tantalizing discovery like this one, I suspect that the public might be willing to support it financially.
I’m trying to think of other papyrus fragments from the time of Jerusalem’s destruction in 586 BC and earlier, and none are coming to mind. The press release does not mention any. If this is unique in that regard, this discovery is all the more remarkable.
UPDATE: Christopher Rollston believes the papyrus may be ancient but the writing a modern forgery. Joseph Lauer has alerted us to high-res photos available here.
The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.