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Weekend Roundup

The Ancient World Online (AWOL) has several posts of map resources this week. The Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations is a work-in-progress by students and faculty at Harvard. The Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem has now made available online the Eran Laor Cartographic Collection. For more historic maps, start with the Links page at this site.

Tom Powers reports that you can now walk underground (on the street and through the drainage channel) from the Pool of Siloam to the Givati Parking Lot opposite the entrance to the City of David. He also has photos of the new exit for the passage just below Robinson’s Arch. (The unsightly railing smack in the middle of the first-century street will cause distress for those who haven’t already taken photographs of this historic site.)

The Jerusalem municipality is promoting a “Take two days in Jerusalem” campaign this summer, and the list of cultural events is extensive:

The International Festival of Light, Knights Festival, International Film Festival, Puppets Theater Festival, Opera Festival, Balabasta Festival in Mahane Yehuda Market, Jerusalem Beer Festival, Arts & Crafts Festival, End of Summer Celebration Festival, Wine Tasting Festival, Shalem Dance Festival, Ziggy Marley, Infected Mushrooms, Matisyahu, Eyal Golan, Renee Fleming and more!

Arutz-7 is reporting illegal construction activity at Gibeah of Saul.

Recent events in the Middle East may have a downside: “The ‘Arab Spring’ may have facilitated trade of a treasure trove of stolen assets in the world’s art and antiquities markets.”

The Ashmolean Museum at Oxford will be opening new wings for ancient Egypt and Nubia in November.

Amihai Mazar will be giving a public lecture in Sydney, Australia in September.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson, BibleX

Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land, engraved from A. J. Marks lithograph, 1880s. Source: Eran Laor Cartographic Collection.

Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures, Museums, Resources, Weekend Roundup

New Blog: Feet to Follow, Eyes to See

Many of the blogs related to Israel and biblical sites are focused on matters of academic or current interest. The purpose of David Lang’s new blog is to help the reader to connect facts to faith. Lang is the author of the Bible Lands PhotoGuide for Accordance Bible Software and he is currently writing a book, Feet to Follow, Eyes to See. He writes:

Ultimately, that’s my goal in writing this book. There are plenty of excellent books which offer facts about biblical backgrounds, but I want to bridge the gap between fact and faith. I don’t just want you to understand the Bible more clearly; I want you to hear God speaking to you through His Word.

His series “Dotwatch” helps readers to “connect the dots” for readers who live in a different time and place than biblical writers. In his most recent post in this series, he reflects on the difference between what his intense study of the land of Israel prepared him for and the reality he experienced on his first trip.

Even though my in depth study of all those photos gave me a good sense of what to expect, there was one thing those photos could not adequately give me: a proper sense of scale. There’s a difference between seeing a photo of the colonnaded street of Beth-Shan and actually standing at the foot of one of those massive columns. Even if the photo actually shows people standing next to those columns, so that your mind is able to conceive the difference in height, it is somehow not the same thing as actually being there. Getting a sense of scale from a photograph is a clinical kind of knowledge. It cannot convey the experiential knowledge of actually being dwarfed by something and feeling awe at its grandeur. Somehow, this second kind of knowledge is deeper and far more real. I suppose you could say it’s the difference between seeing in three dimensions rather than two.

I appreciate Lang’s insights and personal style. I look forward to following along with him on his journey.

Tagged Resources

Special Offer for Archaeology Magazines (Electronic)

I hesitate to mention a special of the Biblical Archaeology Society here because if you have ever taken advantage of one of their offers (such as the recent free download of the book of interviews with Frank Moore Cross), then you have likely been added to their email list with its frequent mailings. But in case you have not, or if those emails end up in a folder that you do not read, this seems to be a very good offer for past issues of their three magazines, plus a fourth archaeology magazine published by ASOR.

Biblical Archaeology Review: The Archive (1975-2005)
Now $80.97 with 40% off. (Reg. $134.95) [186 issues; $.43/issue]

Bible Review: The Complete Archive (1985-2005) Now $59.97 with 40% off. (Reg. $99.95) [126 issues; $.48/issue]

Archaeology Odyssey: The Complete Archive (1998-2005)
Now $35.97 with 40% off. (Reg. $59.95) Complete contents listed here. [64 issues; $.56/issue]

Biblical Archaeologist: The Complete Archive (1938-1998)

Now $89.97 with 40% off. (Reg. $149.95) [240 issues; $.37/issue]

These collections all run in the Logos software program (included), and the BAR set is also on sale in Accordance format ($75). Shipping is $7 in the US.

These discounted prices end on Thursday, July 7, at 5 p.m. Eastern time.

Tagged Resources

Weekend Roundup #2

The outgoing chairman of UNESCO’s Israel World Heritage Committee discusses the value and potential problems of adding historic sites to the World Heritage list. The Jerusalem Post has updated their article on the Miriam-Yeshua-Caiaphas ossuary with a 2.5 minute video, including an interview with the archaeologist. They expect to put the ossuary on display in a museum in the near future. Hundreds of decorated blocks were found recently at Tanis, Egypt, the site where Indiana Jones found the ark of the covenant. After five years of restoration work, the 1.6-mile (2.7-km) long Avenue of the Sphinxes connecting the Luxor Temple with the Karnak Temple will be opened in October. In his May/June edition of the Archaeology in Israel Update, Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg reviews the excavations of 10th century “Bethsaida,” the 70th anniversary of the Hebrew University Museum, the discovery of a Byzantine building in Acco, a salvage excavation at the Austrian Hospice in Jerusalem’s Old City, and the arrest of an American professor for selling antiquities in Israel. Eisenbrauns has posted notice of publication of Unearthing Jerusalem: 150 Years of Archaeological Research in the Holy City. Edited by Gideon Avni and Katharina Galor. 520 pages! Due out in November. Also listed but without an expected publication date is a new work by Eilat Mazar, Discovering the Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem. Like most of this archaeologist’s books on Jerusalem, it is self-published. The IAA continues to post back issues of ‘Atiqot online. The winery of Psagot north of Jerusalem stores its barrels in a cave used for wine-making in the first century. Ray Vander Laan has a new website featuring clips from his most recent Faith Lessons videos.

Tagged Egypt, Jerusalem, Resources, Weekend Roundup

Wednesday Roundup

Concerning yesterday’s ceremony inaugurating the “Water Gate” in Jerusalem, Leen Ritmeyer responds to my question of whether any archaeologist believes Eilat Mazar with a careful, well-illustrated presentation of his conclusions. Ritmeyer was actually the one to suggest to Mazar in the 1980s that the structure may be a gate, but instead of investigating the possibility, she called a press conference to announce the discovery!

Arutz-7 has a two-minute video tour of the newly opened Ophel City Wall site. Ferrell Jenkins posts more photographs.

In his latest Asia Minor Report (posted online by Leen Ritmeyer), Mark Wilson provides a link of free online books of early explorers in Turkey. The archive has lists of similar works for Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Greece, and Italy.

Wilson also points to a website with panoramic photos of sites in north central Turkey.

FRIGKÜM’s website features three-dimensional panoramic photos of the various Phrygian sites (n.b. the labels are in Turkish). The pictures were taken in 160 locations throughout the three provinces as part of the Phrygian Valley 360 Degree Virtual Tour Photography Project. The photography is breathtaking so check it out. The apostle Paul probably saw some of these amazing monuments when he traveled through Phrygia on his second journey (Acts 16:6).

In regular features at the Jerusalem Post, Danny Herman takes viewers on a four-minute video tour of the Western Wall Tunnels, Yehoshua Halevi explains how he takes nature photographs in Israel, and Wayne Stiles considers whether archaeologists are really excavating New Testament Bethsaida.

Newly excavated parts of the underground Crusader city of Acco (Acre) are now being opened to the public.

Templars Tunnel in Acco

Tagged Discoveries, Jerusalem, Resources, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Hezekiah’s Pool in the Old City of Jerusalem has been a place for depositing garbage for many years.

City authorities are no longer ignoring the health hazard but have begun removing the debris by tractor. The report in Haaretz sent Tom Powers to take some photos and speculate on possible discoveries that could be made if trash removal leads to archaeological excavation. Ferrell Jenkins pulled out some of his earlier photos and discusses the pool’s name and date.

An IMAX film entitled “Jerusalem” but with aerial footage from all of Israel is scheduled for release in 2013, notes Leen Ritmeyer. A six-minute preview is already online.

Tel Burna (Libnah?) has a roundup of activities from the first week of the summer excavation.

On the BiblePlaces page at Facebook, Michael Sisson recommends the iTunes app “British Library 19th Century Collection” for good works about the Holy Land by early explorers. The collection will increase from its current 1,000 works to more than 60,000 titles later this summer.

While you wait for the latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review to land in your mailbox, you can get a preview of the contents. This includes an announcement of a brand new section of their “award-winning Web site,” Bible History Daily. The screenshot indicates that it will have an RSS feed.

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources, Shephelah